The word of the day is dirigisme:

 

< French dirigisme, < diriger to direct.(Show More)

The policy of state direction and control in economic and social matters. (OED)

"China, Korea, and other rising economies are often reproached for using government money and influence to bolster home industries to the disadvantage of foreign competitors, a practice that is known as 'industrial policy,' and is frowned on by international trade law.  Such discriminatory policies are also referred to as dirigisme - a clue that the concept didn't originate in the Far East.  After the Second World War, the government of France's Fifth Republic created 'national champions' in strategic areas of the French economy, such as transportation, energy, and aerospace."

 - John Cassidy, "Enter the Dragon: Why 'state capitalism' is China's biggest knockoff", 13 December 2010 The New Yorker

The word of the day is levy:

< French levée, < lever to raise, levy < Latin levāre to raise.(Show Less)

1. The action of levying:

2. The amount or number levied:

a. †A duty, impost, tax. Obs. In a trade or benefit society: A call or contribution of so much per head. (OED)

 

 "In 1721, the government of Robert Walpole placed a range of tariffs on all manufactured imports, erecting a protective wall around businesses that created the Industrial Revolution.  A century later, while the heirs of Adam Smith were expounding the theoretical virtues of free trade, Britain retained some of the highest import tariffs in the world: more than fifty percent on many manufactured goods.  Those levies stayed high until the eighteen-sixties, when the country's competitive advantage in textiles, steel, and other industries was firmly established."

 - John Cassidy, "Enter the Dragon: Why 'state capitalism' is China's biggest knockoff", 13 December 2010 The New Yorker

The word of the day is démarche:

< French démarche (15–16th cent. in Hatzfeld & Darmesteter), vbl. n. < démarcher (12th cent.) to march, < dé- = Latin de- prefix 1c + marcher to march v.² In the 18th cent. nearly anglicized; now treated as a French loanword.

a. Walk, step; proceeding, manner of action.   

b. Esp. a diplomatic initiative, a political step or proceeding. (OED)

"With all the talk of how China could displace the U.S. as the leading financial superpower, it is easy to forget that economic disputes between Beijing and Western capitals are nothing new, and that in the past they sometimes went well beyond diplomatic démarches."

 - John Cassidy, "Enter the Dragon: Why 'state capitalism' is China's biggest knockoff", 13 December 2010 The New Yorker