But the desire for reform of industry protection remained and the textiles industry, which at the time was the most protected industry, was the focus of cabinet deliberations across 1986 and 1987.
Palm oil's economic importance to Indonesia seems to afford the industry protection.
Exports were boosted as a result of devaluation, structural reforms aimed at reducing industry protection, a reformed tax system and the freeing of the labour market.
"Others don't have these add-ons, so we think it is only fair that we have infant-industry protection," says Joe Makoju, an adviser to Mr Dangote.
Countries that adopt antidumping statutes, he writes, "often find it a bit like letting the genie out of the bottle -- it is difficult to give one industry protection without encouraging other sectors to also seek protection".
For most poor countries, it was a period of mounting frustration as one development nostrum after another capital accumulation, infant-industry protection, input-output modelling failed to live up to its promise.
If a group of countries imposes infant-industry protection, it will split up the market; each country may end up with small-scale, localized, inefficient production, thus reducing the prosperity of all of the countries.
"I grew up with a firm belief that both Labor and the Coalition were supportive of industry protection and there was no way any Labor government would withdraw tariff support," he said.
"Spending cuts to deliver the largest budget surplus in our history, tax changes to put our companies at the cutting edge of world commerce, changes to industry protection to promote competitiveness and efficiency".
Yes, there was an old tradition arguing that increasing returns made the case for infant-industry protection; underlying this tradition was the intuitive notion that increasing-returns industries are the "good stuff" you want to get, and keep away from other countries.
