Varieties of Capitalism and Institutional Change: A Response to Three Critics

In: Comparative European politics: CEP, Band 1, Heft 2, S. 241-250

Abstract

As part of a review symposium on the authors' book, Varieties of Capitalism: The Institutional Foundations of Comparative Advantage (Oxford: Oxford U Press, 2001), replies are offered to comments by Robert E. Goodin, Mark Blyth, & Matthew Watson (all, 2003). Issues raised by the commentators demonstrate the importance of the "varieties of capitalism" (VOC) literature to analyses of political economy. Three sets of issues are addressed here relevant to (1) unemployment & the service economy, (2) comparative institutional change, & (3) comparative institutional advantage. Cross-national empirical data are presented to compare developed political economies of the three types identified by the authors -- coordinated, liberal, & mixed -- in terms of changes in industrial relations, social protection, labor market flexibility, firm structure, corporate governance, earnings, & employment, 1980s-1990s. 1 Table, 1 Figure, 20 References. K. Hyatt Stewart