Blocks "hidden developmental state" och Boeing

Är USA:s stat en ekonomiskt konsekvent laissez faire-stat, är ekonomin en av "fria marknader"? Nej, föga förvånande är den inte det. Hur kan man då konceptualisera USA:s typ av stat-ekonomi-relation? Ekonomisk-sociologen Fred Block talar om en "hidden developmental state in the United States": att USA-staten i stor skala styr och främjar den teknologiska utvecklingen och därmed hela den ekonomiska utvecklingen i landet. I Economist för några veckor sedan tog de upp att USA fällts av WTO för illegala (och dolda, ej uttalade) subsidier till flygplanstillverkaren Boeing -

"Airbus, Europe’s aircraft-making champion, has long had its nose in the subsidy trough. This week the World Trade Organisation (WTO) ruled that Boeing, its American rival, is also a guzzler of illegal handouts. More precisely, the WTO gave an interim verdict on a claim by the European Union and Airbus that Boeing received subsidies, mainly channelled through the Department of Defence and NASA, that violate global trading rules.

Not long ago, it was Airbus that was strapped to a seat in cattle class and being pelted with airline food. On June 30th the WTO ruled on an American complaint that Airbus received billions of euros in illegal subsidies that allowed it to snatch half the market for big passenger jets. It found that some government support to Airbus, in the form of repayable “launch aid”, was illegal. Boeing’s chairman, Jim McNerney, hailed “a landmark decision and a sweeping legal victory”.

This time Airbus is jubilant. A European source said “we could not have hoped for more.” The trade referee found that much of the $22 billion benefit Boeing enjoyed from tax breaks and defence and research contracts was also an illegal subsidy. Airbus has long complained that, whereas it repays the launch aid with interest, Boeing never has to pay back a cent. "

Economist, "Another nose in the trough", 18 september

---
Jfr 2 december 08, "Marknadsekonomin som kontinuum"