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E pluribus unum? Varieties and commonalities of capitalism

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  • Streeck, Wolfgang

Abstract

The paper reviews the origins of the comparative study of capitalism and of the diverse approaches applied to it in contemporary political economy. It distinguishes four models accounting for differences in the institutional make-up of national capitalist economies, which it refers to as the social embeddedness, power resource, historicalinstitutionalist, and rationalist-functionalist model, respectively. Special attention is given to the rationalist-functionalist account of capitalist variety and its reception in the research literature. The paper concludes with remarks on the likely effect of the global financial crisis after 2007 on theories of political economy in general and of 'varieties of capitalism' in particular. It argues that in future the commonalities and interdependencies of national capitalisms deserve and are likely to receive more attention than their differences.

Suggested Citation

  • Streeck, Wolfgang, 2010. "E pluribus unum? Varieties and commonalities of capitalism," MPIfG Discussion Paper 10/12, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:mpifgd:1012
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    Cited by:

    1. Luigi Burroni, 2014. "Competitive regionalism and the territorial governance of uncertainty," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 20(1), pages 83-97, February.
    2. Kuznetsov, Andrei & Jacob, Marcus, 2015. "Institutional adjustment and change at the firm level: A varieties of capitalism perspective," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 165-177.
    3. Athanasios Kolliopoulos, 2020. "The Determinants of Bank Bailouts in Greece: testing the extreme limits of the ÒVarieties of Financial CapitalismÓ framework," GreeSE – Hellenic Observatory Papers on Greece and Southeast Europe 148, Hellenic Observatory, LSE.
    4. ten Brink, Tobias, 2011. "Institutional change in market-liberal state capitalism. An integrative perspective on the development of the private business sector in China," MPIfG Discussion Paper 11/2, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    5. Fichtner, Jan & Heemskerk, Eelke & Petry, Johannes, 2021. "The new gatekeepers of financial claims: States, passive markets, and the growing power of index providers," SocArXiv x45j3, Center for Open Science.
    6. Sarah Wolf & Steffen Fürst & Antoine Mandel & Wiebke Lass & Daniel Lincke & Federico Pablo-Marti & Carlo Jaeger, 2013. "A multi-agent model of several economic regions," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) halshs-00825217, HAL.
    7. Tony Dobbins & Alexandra Plows & Huw Lloyd-Williams, 2012. "Labour precariousness and make do and mend after redundancy at Anglesey Aluminium: critiquing Human Capital Theory," Working Papers 12007, Bangor Business School, Prifysgol Bangor University (Cymru / Wales).
    8. Mitchell Christopher W., 2016. "The structure of financial markets and the form of state bailouts, 1974–2009," Business and Politics, De Gruyter, vol. 18(2), pages 97-122, August.
    9. Anke Hassel, 2011. "The paradox of liberalization – Understanding dualism and the recovery of the German political economy," LEQS – LSE 'Europe in Question' Discussion Paper Series 42, European Institute, LSE.
    10. Hassel, Anke, 2011. "The paradox of liberalization – understanding dualism and the recovery of the German political economy," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 53212, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    11. Leszczyński Dariusz, 2015. "Emerging Varieties of Capitalism in Transition Countries: Literature Review," International Journal of Management and Economics, Warsaw School of Economics, Collegium of World Economy, vol. 48(1), pages 101-124, December.
    12. Tobias ten Brink, 2013. "Paradoxes of Prosperity in China’s New Capitalism," Journal of Current Chinese Affairs - China aktuell, Institute of Asian Studies, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies, Hamburg, vol. 42(4), pages 17-44.
    13. Kolliopoulos, Athanasios, 2020. "The determinants of bank bailouts in Greece: testing the extreme limits of the “Varieties of Financial Capitalism” framework," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 105072, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    14. Bofinger, Peter & Buch, Claudia M. & Feld, Lars P. & Schmidt, Christoph M. & Wieland, Volker, 2013. "Gegen eine rückwärtsgewandte Wirtschaftspolitik. Jahresgutachten 2013/14 [Against a backward-looking economic policy. Annual Report 2013/14]," Annual Economic Reports / Jahresgutachten, German Council of Economic Experts / Sachverständigenrat zur Begutachtung der gesamtwirtschaftlichen Entwicklung, volume 127, number 201314.
    15. Meelen, Toon & Herrmann, Andrea M. & Faber, Jan, 2017. "Disentangling patterns of economic, technological and innovative specialization of Western economies: An assessment of the Varieties-of-Capitalism theory on comparative institutional advantages," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(3), pages 667-677.
    16. Schneider, Sebastian, 2014. "Varieties of capitalism, varieties of crisis response Bank bailouts in comparative perspective," PIPE - Papers on International Political Economy 21/2014, Free University Berlin, Center for International Political Economy.
    17. ten Brink, Tobias, 2011. "Kooperation oder Konfrontation? Der Aufstieg Chinas in der globalen politischen Ökonomie," MPIfG Working Paper 11/7, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    18. Anke Hassel, 2014. "The Paradox of Liberalization — Understanding Dualism and the Recovery of the German Political Economy," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 52(1), pages 57-81, March.
    19. Giorgos Argitis & Stella Michopoulou, 2013. "Studies in Financial Systems No 4 Financialization and the Greek Financial System," FESSUD studies fstudy04, Financialisation, Economy, Society & Sustainable Development (FESSUD) Project.

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