Re-Forming Capitalism: Institutional Change in the German Political Economy
Wolfgang Streeck
Abstract
This book addresses some of the key issues in the field of comparative political economy and institutional theory: the role of history in institutional analysis, the dynamics of slow institutional change, the limitations of rational design and economic-functionalist explanations of institutional stability, and the recurrent difficulties of restraining the effects of capitalism on social order. In the classification of the ‘Varieties of Capitalism’ school, Germany has always been taken as the chief exemplar of a ‘European’, coordinated market economy. The book explores to what extent Germany ac ... More
This book addresses some of the key issues in the field of comparative political economy and institutional theory: the role of history in institutional analysis, the dynamics of slow institutional change, the limitations of rational design and economic-functionalist explanations of institutional stability, and the recurrent difficulties of restraining the effects of capitalism on social order. In the classification of the ‘Varieties of Capitalism’ school, Germany has always been taken as the chief exemplar of a ‘European’, coordinated market economy. The book explores to what extent Germany actually conforms to this description. Its argument is supported by original empirical research on wage-setting and wage structure, the organization of business and labor in business associations and trade unions, social policy, public finance, and corporate governance. From this evidence, this book traces the current liberalization of the post-war economy of democratic capitalism by means of a historical approach to institutional change.
Keywords:
comparative political economy,
institutional theory,
institutional analysis,
institutional change,
institutional stability,
social order,
Germany,
coordinated market economy
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2010 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780199573981 |
| Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: October 2011 |
DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199573981.001.0001 |
