What Uzbekistan Tells Us About Industrial Policy that We Did Not Know?

This paper discusses Uzbekistan’s recent experience with structural shifts and industrial policy, with a particular focus on various industry policy instruments, and its implications for the existing theories of industrial policy. In particular, two major hypotheses are discussed: (1) the hypothesis of Haussmann, Hwang and Rodrik (the more technologically sophisticated the export structure, the better for growth) and (2) the hypothesis of Justin Yifu Lin (export specialization should build on existing comparative advantages and should not jump over the necessary technological stages).