Some Challenges for Industrial Economics

There are three main themes at this conference: industrial policy, the problem of European unemployment and the interface between micro economics and macro economics. They are obviously interconnected; they are part of a general question mark that hangs over the relation between industrial economics and macro economics. It is my opinion that the time has come to consider very seriously the costs and benefits of specialization in our profession. Much of general scientific progress is the result of a process of continuous academic specialization. But there are also major costs. Especially in the social sciences, these are the costs of failures of communication.