Synopses & Reviews
What are the most important differences among national economies? Is globalization forcing nations to converge on an Anglo-American model? What explains national differences in social and economic policy? This pathbreaking work outlines a new approach to these questions. It highlights the role of business in national economies and shows that there is more than one path to economic success. The book sets a new intellectual agenda for everyone interested in relations between politics, economics, and business.
Review
"With this book Peter Hall and David Soskice are opening a new chapter in the analysis of contemporary capitalism. They have succeeded in bringing together in one compelling formulation historical - institutional and rationalist - individualist analytical perspectives. The empirical applications in Varieties of Capitalism illuminate in a profound way how both scholars and policy makers will benefit when they link macro- and micro-level analyses across the many different sectors that define contemporary capitalism in its many forms. Economists and political scientists, finally, are able to meet on common ground. This book will become a classic in the field."-- Peter J. Katzenstein, Walter S. Carpenter, Jr. Professor of International Studies, Cornell University.
"This invaluable contribution to the comparative capitalism literature vigorously argues against the notion of convergence so popular in the globalism debates. The authors expand our understanding of national "production systems" to see new connections and show that the differences aong them allow countries to pursue distinctly different strategies of international competition. A must read."--Peter Gourevitch, University of California, San Diego
"This book has been well worth waiting for. It demonstrates the wealth of insights that could be achieveed through Soskice's innovative research program that began to chang the agenda of Comparative POlitical Economy more than a decade ago. The volume combines a definitive restatement of the varieties of cpitialism approach with illuminative applications to the range of research areas covered by it with some fascinating theoretical extensions. Excellent!"-- F.W. Scharpf, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, Cologne
Table of Contents
List of Figures
List of Tables
List of Contributors
1. An Introduction to Varieties of Capitalism, Peter A. Hall and David Soskice
Part I: General Themes and Diverse Applications
2. Varieties of Labor Politics in the Developed Democracies, Kathleen Thelen
3. Institutional and Sectoral Interactions in Monetary Policy and Wage/Price-Bargaining, Robert J. Franzese, Jr.
4. Social Protection and the Formation of Skills: A Reinterpretation of the Welfare State, Margarita Estevez-Abe, Torben Iversen, and David Soskice
5. Firms and the Welfare State: When, Why and How Does Social Policy Matter to Employers?, Isabela Mares
6. The Domestic Sources of Multilateral Preferences: Varieties of Capitalism in the European Community, Orfeo Fioretos
Part II: Case Studies in Public Policy, Continuity, and Change
7. Business, Government, and Patterns of Labor Market Policy in Britain and the Federal Republic of Germany, Stewart Wood
8. Employers, Public Policy, and the Politics of Decentralized Cooperation in Germany and France, Pepper D. Culpepper
9. Revisiting the French Model: Coordination and Restructuring in French Industry, Bob Hanckd'e
Part III: Corporate Governance, Firm Strategy, and the Law
10. Varieties of Corporate Governance: Comparing Germany and the UK, Sigurt Vitols
11. Macro-varieties of Capitalism and Micro-varieties of Strategic Management in European Airlines, Mark Lehrer
12. The Legal Framework for Corporate Governance: The Influence of Contract Law on Company Strategies in Germany and the United States, Steven Casper
13. Legal Irritants: How Unifying Law Ends up in the New Divergences, Gunther Teubner
14. National Varieties of Standardization, Jay Tate
Bibliography
Index