Milton Friedman: Conselhos ao Governo da Índia, 1955

O Memorando inteiro deveria ser entregue ao Ministro Mantega, mas a parte sobre política industrial salta à vista:

"Just as it is inappropriate to discriminate in favour of the cottage industries, so it is equally  inappropriate to discriminate in favour of factory industry or large concerns. Granting them  special favour the form of especially advantageous loans guaranteed markets, refusal of  licenses to  competitors, enforcing or even permitting private price-fixing and market-sharing  agreements-simply encourages inefficiency and wastes scarce resources. If private industry is  granted special favours by the Government, it is certainly inevitable that its use of these  favours will be controlled; but this does not offset the harm done by the favours; it merely  introduces new sources of rigidity and inefficiency. Business ingenuity is devoted to carving  out protected sectors instead of to opening up new markets and lowering costs. There is no  justification for private industry unless it is competitive, unless the right to receive profits is  accompanied by acceptance of the risk of loss. Private industry should be made to stand on  its own feet without either favour or harassment."

(HT: Tyler Cowen)

Políticas de Desenvolvimento e Vantagens Comparativas

O que pode ocorrer quando um país elabora políticas de desenvolvimento que violam vantagens comparativas?

"In a country that adopts a CAD (Comparative Advantage Defying) strategy, it is likely that in the early stage, the economy will enjoy a period of rapid investment-driven growth. As has been observed, however, in Latin America and many other developing and socialist countries, economic growth will inevitably slow down, leading to eventual stagnation and even frequent crises due to the depletion of economic surplus, which is required for investment arising from the misallocation of resources, suppression of incentives, soft-budget constraints and rent seeking activities."