In a report for the Institute for Public Policy Research being launched at the World Economic Forum in Davos, former EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson argues for the need to re-evaluate the rules governing globalisation.
Lord Mandelson told the Today Programme's Evan Davis that his attitude towards capitalism and globalisation has changed since when he was in government because the country hadn't seen the benefits from rising prosperity that "we took for granted" and we now see "competition on a huge scale".
He went on to say that "we've learned that markets, while indispensible, can become volatile and have to be regulated" and because of that, globalisation is creating "income inequalities".
Looking back to policy when he was in government, Lord Mandelson said that in hindsight the government had to do more of the "heavy lifting" to enable our economy to reach levels of specialisation so we could benefit from "third wave of globalisation".
He added: "We have got to do far more to help the private sector to innovate and specialise in production of high value added goods."
Despite praising the work of Business Secretary Vince Cable and Universities Minister David Willetts, emphasis on high tech is still being done on a "ludicrously low scale" and that while we have the right idea, we do it in a "piecemeal" way - unlike France or Germany.
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