Models Of Capitalism

Applying the new economics of organisation and relational theories of the firm to the problem of understanding cross-national variation in the political economy, this volume elaborates a new understanding of the institutional differences that characterise the 'varieties of capitalism' worldwide.

This book uses comparative economic analysis to provide a common conceptual framework for all current European Union member states. Based on empirical investigation, the author identifies the Nordic, North-western, Mediterranean, and Central and Eastern models of capitalism on the threshold of the 2008 global financial and economic crisis. The chapters also examine the resulting institutional responses to the crisis and the methods of crisis management adopted by each member state. The analysis reveals that the crisis has not triggered radical institutional change but, instead, highlighted deep institutional differences not between the old and new member states, but between the Nordic, North-western, Mediterranean, and Central and Eastern European countries. These institutional differences are so significant that they require the rethinking of European integration theory. Models of Capitalism in the European Union serves as a useful handbook for academics, advanced students, policy-makers and advisors who are interested in European economic issues.

This book combines two strands of international political economy; examining how capitalism and democracy shape and are shaped by each other. Although until now considered separately, this path-breaking book proposes an innovative view of a political-economic system that inextricably links the model of capitalism to the type of democracy, where continuation is mutually reinforced. Advanced countries have achieved post-war affluence by adopting one of two contrasting models of capitalism; liberal market economies or coordinated market economies, and two opposing types of democracies: consensus or majoritarian democracies. Expert contributors in the field consider the question of whether and how globalization is transforming the post-war political–economic systems of advanced countries such as Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Japan, as well as the question of how it is shaping democracy and capitalism combinations in former socialist countries in Eastern Europe and the new "capitalist" China. The book examines various topics, including party system change, a political dilemma of the established party, and corporate governance reforms, to posit an original an innovative theory of international political economy. Variety of Capitalism, Types of Democracy and Globalization will be of interest to students and scholars of comparative politics, political economy and globalization.

Though the emerging sub-discipline of comparative political economy is now rich in studies of different advanced capitalisms, it still lacks a systematic consideration of the organizing frameworks and methodologies underpinning those studies. This definitive volume outlines the two great debates currently shaping the analysis of advanced capitalism. It makes the case for a greater awareness of underlying theoretical issues in the design of empirical research, and demonstrates the value of exploring the interconnections between competing intellectual approaches.

Governance and Business Models for Sustainable Capitalism touches upon many of the central themes of today’s debate on business and society. In particular, it brings attention to a recurrent tension between efficiency, innovation, and productivity on the one hand, and fairness, equity, and sustainability on the other. The book argues that we need radical rethinking of business models and economic governance, beyond the classical doctrine, which sees social and ecological responsibility as lying with public-policy regulation of purely profit-seeking firms. In spite of the popular CSR agenda, business – as we know it today – is both too transient and too limited in its motivation to carry the regulatory burden. We need to adopt a much wider concept of 'partnered governance', where advanced states and pioneering companies work together to raise the social and environmental bar. The book suggests that civil engagements based on moral rather than formal rights, and amplified through the media, may provide a healthy challenge both to autocratic planning and to solely profit-centered commercialization. The book also proposes a triple cycle theory of innovation for sustainability: a novel framing of the efficacy of green and prosocial entrepreneurship as intertwined with political visions and supportive institutions. In addition, the book offers reflections on the ways in which further digital robotizaton may enable transition to an ‘Agora Economy’ where productive efficiency is combined with expanded civic freedoms. Aimed primarily at researchers, academics, and students in the fields of political economy, business and society, corporate governance, business ethics, corporate social responsibility, and sustainability, the book will additionally be of value to practitioners, supplying them with information regarding the challenges associated with the shaping of sustainable or ‘civilised’ market capitalism for a better world.

The current crisis in Europe is being labelled, in mainstream media and politics, as a ‘public debt crisis’. The present book draws a markedly different picture. What is happening now is rooted, in a variety of different ways, in the destabilisation of national models of capitalism due to the predominance of neoliberalism since the demise of the post-war ‘golden age’. Ten country analyses provide insights into national ways of coping – or failing to cope – with the ongoing crisis. They reveal the extent to which the respective socio-economic development models are unsustainable, either for the country in question, or for other countries. The bottom-line of the book is twofold. First, there will be no European reform agenda at all unless each country does its own homework. Second, and equally urgent, is a new European reform agenda without which alternative approaches in individual countries will inevitably be suffocated. This message, delivered by the country chapters, is underscored by more general chapters on the prospects of trade union policy in Europe and on current austerity policies and how they interact with the new approaches to economic governance at the EU level. These insights are aimed at providing a better understanding across borders at a time when European rhetoric is being used as a smokescreen for national egoism.

The volume analyzes the long-term trajectories of change in the capitalist models of the UK, Germany, Sweden, France, Italy, Hungary, Slovakia, and the United States. The case studies identify critical junctures and key periods of change in order to show how institutions are shaped by different sets of socio-political compromises and public policy. The case studies follow a common methodology, comparing change and linkages across six core institutional domains, thus facilitating a comparative understanding of the patterns and drivers of institutional change, as well as how liberalisation impacts countries in similar and dissimilar ways. The historical perspective of the cases highlights the transformative effects of relatively slow and incremental changes. These case studies also make an innovative contribution to examining the linkages between four levels of institutions that regulate the economy – the international, macro (national), meso, and micro. The volume reveals both a common trend toward more liberal forms of capitalism but also variations on this overarching trajectory. Markets themselves create their own dynamics, which have varied effects on firms and other economic actors in historically diverse institutional contexts. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of European Public Policy.

The contemporary debate on economic policy is dominated by the issue of 'which model of capitalism works best'.