Explanations of welfare effort in affluent postwar democracies are partially integrated within a "political resource" framework. Political resource models of welfare effort fare well when tested with ...pooled time-series data for 1960-82. Use of governmental authority by the left, use of disruption by the working class and the petty burgeois, and use of lobbying, voting, and/or entitlement rights by the elderly and the unemployed constitute means of political action. Among more diffusely available "infraresources," state revenue expansion, economic growth, and inflation appear to buoy welfre expansion, as do left corporatism and "bureaucratic paternalism." Some mediating effects of economic epoch and state structure are explored.
Within the study of comparative capitalisms (CC), there is little consensus on the core traits, proper labels, or categorization of different capitalist economies. This paper seeks to clarify the ...discussion by constructing an empirical index that can be used to map advanced capitalist economies. The index is based on a dozen variables organized into three key domains: the organization of labor, the organization of business and the role of the state. In terms of cross-national comparison, the distribution of states largely matched theory, although with greater diversity among liberal economies and relatively less among European economies than would be expected. Over time, there has been a general movement toward liberalization with some states, such as New Zealand, liberalizing substantially. Alternately others, mainly Ireland, have actually become more coordinated. Beyond descriptive mapping, this paper also demonstrates how the CC index can be used to provide analytical leverage over questions of the taxonomy of capitalisms, the connection between models and economic performance and the relative contribution of diverse institutions toward economic performance.
China has arrived on the periphery of development, bringing with it a wide political and economic agenda. This marks a new phase in China's international projection and in the world system itself. ...What are the goals of this new New China in terms of international politics? There are many who claim that China entertains ambitions of world dominance, seeking to move into the position the United States has held in terms of planetary leadership. In a manifestation of what comes close to resembling sino-phobia (a new version of the 'yellow threat'), there are those who argue that Chinese development seeks to concentrate world wealth, breaking up the economies of other nations of the world. In advancing the hypothesis that Peking has inaugurated a new stage in international politics, substituting the one in which the New China was struggling to regain sovereignty and development, we base our argument on the relationships that China has established with the African continent. The new New China, then, has begun to transform the world system itself. In this sense, we argue, China has sought to avoid hegemonies, whether that of the Unitied States or its own. If this were not so, its fate could turn out to be similar to that of Germany's, in the aftermath of two World Wars. Yet such strategies might not be feasible, since China must act today within the context of post-World War diplomatic fluidity and an aging contemporary capitalism whose historic centers are in rapid decline. Adapted from the source document.
The article reflects on the cases of Canada & the United States with a twofold theoretical & methodological purpose. Finding differences between countries that share the same economic & liberal ...culture & appear to coincide in the same type of capitalism, is convincing evidence that the countries' economies are conditioned by the contexts & characteristics of political regimes, which gives politics preeminence over economy. Moreover, if these countries which are so similar diverge as a consequence of politics, this means that the economic effects of globalization & the application of economic policy recipes are different in every country & are determined by each one's political context. Adapted from the source document.
Regulation is a universal feature of modern economic life. However, regulating the economies of advanced capitalist nations is a uniquely complex activity, crossing the boundaries between law, ...politics, and economics, and involving problems which affect both the regulator and the regulated. For this book, eminent lawyers and political scientists have contributed essays which analyse these problems by examining in detail the experience of regulation in different economies and diverse industries in capitalist Western Europe.
The authors analyze the evolution of macro-indicators of social and economic well-being during the 1990s in the majority of developed capitalist countries, grouped according to their dominant ...political traditions since the end of World War II. Their analysis shows that, despite the economic globalization of commerce and finance, "politics still matters" in explaining the evolution of the welfare states and labor markets in these countries; the impact of the globalization of financial capital in forcing reductions in the financial resources available for welfare state purposes has been exaggerated.
The issues we want to address and discuss in this article are related to the interdependence between consumption in households in high‐income countries and life in the low‐income countries, seen in a ...sustainable perspective. In the consumer society the underlying premise is that ever‐escalating consumption is accepted, even desirable. During the past decade, an increasing critique of consumer lifestyle has come from environmentalists, who argue that the resource use to maintain a consumer lifestyle is putting too hard a burden on the ecosystems. We give examples of the abundant evidence of interdependence between North and South at global levels, such as climate change and appropriation of ecosystem capacities, and related to specific types of consumption such as clothing, flowers, food and cosmetics. We argue that the loss of feedback to individual households in the North is a serious barrier for change towards more sustainable consumption habits, and raise a question about how impacts of production and consumption can be communicated to consumers. On the basis of previous and ongoing research, we highlight some impacts of positive and negative labelling schemes as well as extended environmental information.
The article analyzes the social, economic, and political changes taking place in developed capitalist countries that are affecting their welfare states, in particular the changes in the family, in ...people's life cycles, in economic and social structures, and, most importantly, in the political contexts. The author shows how these changes take place and how the ways in which various countries respond to them depend mainly on the correlation of forces (of which class forces continue to be of great importance) and their expression in the political space. The dominant theoretical frame (promoted by international agencies and many governments) assumes that all governments, regardless of their political coloration, are forced to follow the same policies because of the need to be competitive in the globalized economy, where international markets (whether financial or commercial) determine what governments can and must do. Questioning this economic determinism, the article recovers the importance of politics, putting politics at the center of the explanation of what is happening in the welfare states of the developed capitalist countries, including the neoliberal aggression against them.
Introductory note by the Editors There is a political controversy going on in Hungary between those who are supporting the actions and the rhetoric of the present government and those who are ...opposing them. The article by János Kornai is a contribution to this political controversy. It is not an academic treatise, equipped with footnotes and references. It was written for the readers of the daily newspaper Népszabadság, which has the largest circulation in Hungary, in a style accessible to all readers of the newspaper. In spite of the length of the article, quite unusual for a daily newspaper, the editors were willing to publish it in full in the 28 January 2012 issue. Economics of Transition is publishing the translation of the original article, without any changes. There were no footnotes in the original article; all the footnotes have been added by the author during the editorial process of Economics of Transition, mainly to explain the context of a term or an event for readers less familiar with the Hungarian situation, or to reference a book or paper mentioned in the text. The dates in the article have not been adjusted and should be read relative to the initial publication date of the article in Hungarian on 28 January 2012. Reprinted by permission of Blackwell Publishers
Self-provided housing is a major form of housing supply in nearly all the developed countries of W. Europe, N. America and Australasia. In many, like France or Germany, it accounted for the major ...part of housing output during the 1980s. Contrary to many opinions self-provision is not associated with backwardness, peripherality, or lack of market development. Rather, self-provided housing is often a major element in the expansion of European metropoles and sometimes reaches the heights of 'post-fordist' industrial organisation and product development. Self-provision lowers the money cost of housing and usually ensures higher quality, and in this way enlarges the housing choices of middle-income nuclear families. Materials and land costs remain substantial barriers to self-provision, and the more disadvantaged groups are usually unable to participate. However, the presence of a large self-provided sector can indirectly improve their housing position. Housing cycles will be calmed, spatial polarisation will be less severe, and there will be less competition from the more advantaged in rental markets. A significant self-provision sector can also have important effects on the housebuilding industry, both through direct competition and by presenting a different market environment. The net result is likely to be a decline in speculative behaviour and a concentration on longer-term efficiency. Finally, there are various 'models' for a successful self-provided housing sector, where the necessary social support is organised in different ways by different agencies. These will affect the level and distribution of self-provision. Given the importance of self-provided housing in all these ways, it merits considerably further research than has been the case so far.
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