IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/mpifgd/1012.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

E pluribus unum? Varieties and commonalities of capitalism

Author

Listed:
  • 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
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/43292/1/64070493X.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Colin Hay, 2005. "Two Can Play at That Game … or Can They? Varieties of Capitalism, Varieties of Institutionalism," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: David Coates (ed.), Varieties of Capitalism, Varieties of Approaches, chapter 6, pages 106-121, Palgrave Macmillan.
    2. Hall, Peter A. & Gingerich, Daniel W., 2004. "Varieties of Capitalism and Institutional Complementarities in the Macroeconomy," MPIfG Discussion Paper 04/5, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    3. Amable, Bruno, 2003. "The Diversity of Modern Capitalism," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199261147.
    4. Ingham, Geoffrey, 2004. "The nature of money," economic sociology. perspectives and conversations, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, vol. 5(2), pages 18-28.
    5. Jonas Pontusson, 1992. "At the End of the Third Road: Swedish Social Democracy in Crisis," Politics & Society, , vol. 20(3), pages 305-332, September.
    6. Hirschman, Albert O, 1982. "Rival Interpretations of Market Society: Civilizing, Destructive, or Feeble?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 20(4), pages 1463-1484, December.
    7. Rosemary Batt & Hiroatsu Nohara & Hyunji Kwon, 2010. "Employer Strategies and Wages in New Service Activities: A Comparison of Co‐ordinated and Liberal Market Economies," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 48(2), pages 400-435, June.
    8. Taylor, Mark Zachary, 2004. "Empirical Evidence Against Varieties of Capitalism's Theory of Technological Innovation," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 58(3), pages 601-631, July.
    9. Iversen, Torben & Soskice, David, 2001. "An Asset Theory of Social Policy Preferences," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 95(4), pages 875-893, December.
    10. Cusack, Thomas R. & Iversen, Torben & Soskice, David, 2007. "Economic interests and the origins of electoral systems," Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Institutions, States, Markets SP II 2007-07, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    11. J. M. Keynes, 1937. "The General Theory of Employment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 51(2), pages 209-223.
    12. Jackson, Gregory & Deeg, Richard, 2006. "How Many Varieties of Capitalism? Comparing the Comparative Institutional Analyses of Capitalist Diversity," MPIfG Discussion Paper 06/2, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    13. David Coates, 1999. "Models of Capitalism in the New World Order: the UK Case," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 47(4), pages 643-660, September.
    14. Beckert, Jens, 2007. "The Great Transformation of Embeddedness: Karl Polanyi and the New Economic Sociology," MPIfG Discussion Paper 07/1, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    15. Wolfgang Streeck, 1987. "The Uncertainties of Management in the Management of Uncertainty," International Journal of Political Economy, M.E. Sharpe, Inc., vol. 17(3), pages 57-87, October.
    16. Cusack, Thomas R. & Iversen, Torben & Soskice, David, 2007. "Economic Interests and the Origins of Electoral Systems," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 101(3), pages 373-391, August.
    17. Virginia Doellgast, 2010. "Collective Voice under Decentralized Bargaining: A Comparative Study of Work Reorganization in US and German Call Centres," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 48(2), pages 375-399, June.
    18. Sorge, Arndt, 2005. "The Global and the Local: Understanding the Dialectics of Business Systems," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199278909.
    19. Michael Bruno & Jeffrey D. Sachs, 1985. "Economics of Worldwide Stagflation," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number brun85-1.
    20. Hall, Peter A. & Taylor, Rosemary C. R., 1996. "Political science and the three new institutionalisms," MPIfG Discussion Paper 96/6, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    21. Leo Panitch & Sam Gindin, 2005. "Euro-Capitalism and American Empire," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: David Coates (ed.), Varieties of Capitalism, Varieties of Approaches, chapter 8, pages 139-159, Palgrave Macmillan.
    22. Geoffrey M. Hodgson & Makoto Itoh & Nobuharu Yokokawa (ed.), 2001. "Capitalism in Evolution," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 1528.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    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. 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.
    7. repec:hal:pseose:halshs-00825217 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. 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).
    9. 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, February.
    10. 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.
    11. 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.
    12. 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.
    13. 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.
    14. 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.
    15. 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.
    16. 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.
    17. 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.
    18. 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.
    19. 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.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ahlquist, John S. & Breunig, Christian, 2009. "Country clustering in comparative political economy," MPIfG Discussion Paper 09/5, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    2. Marco Simoni, 2019. "Institutional Roots of Economic Decline: Lessons from Italy," LEQS – LSE 'Europe in Question' Discussion Paper Series 143, European Institute, LSE.
    3. Amable, Bruno & Azizi, Karim, 2011. "Varieties of capitalism and varieties of macroeconomic policy. Are some economies more procyclical than others?," MPIfG Discussion Paper 11/6, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    4. Buchen, Clemens, 2010. "Emerging economic systems in Central and Eastern Europe – a qualitative and quantitative assessment," EconStor Theses, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, number 37141, September.
    5. Gordon Redding & Michael Witt, 2009. "China’s business system and its future trajectory," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 26(3), pages 381-399, September.
    6. Joscha Beckmann & Rainer Schweickert & Markus Ahlborn & Inna Melnykovska, 2020. "Drivers of Government Activity in European Countries: Do Partisan Politics Still Divide East and West?," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(5), pages 1235-1251, September.
    7. Stefan Ćetković & Aron Buzogány & Miranda Schreurs, 2016. "Varieties of clean energy transitions in Europe: Political-economic foundations of onshore and offshore wind development," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2016-18, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    8. DiVito, Lori, 2012. "Institutional entrepreneurship in constructing alternative paths: A comparison of biotech hybrids," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(5), pages 884-896.
    9. Reale, Filippo, 2019. "Governing innovation systems: A Parsonian social systems perspective," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    10. Streeck, Wolfgang, 2011. "Skills and politics. General and specific," MPIfG Discussion Paper 11/1, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    11. Nölke, Andreas, 2011. "Transnational economic order and national economic institutions: comparative capitalism meets international political economy," MPIfG Working Paper 11/3, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    12. Stefan Cetkovic & Aron Buzogány & Miranda Schreurs, 2016. "Varieties of clean energy transitions in Europe Political-economic foundations of onshore and offshore wind development," WIDER Working Paper Series 018, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    13. Höpner, Martin, 2004. "Unternehmensmitbestimmung unter Beschuss: Die Mitbestimmungsdebatte im Licht der sozialwissenschaftlichen Forschung," MPIfG Discussion Paper 04/8, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    14. Gregory Jackson, 2016. "Toward a Conceptual Framework for Understanding Institutional Change in Japanese Capitalism: Structural Transformations and Organizational Diversity," Working Papers halshs-01643921, HAL.
    15. Jackson, Gregory & Deeg, Richard, 2006. "How Many Varieties of Capitalism? Comparing the Comparative Institutional Analyses of Capitalist Diversity," MPIfG Discussion Paper 06/2, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    16. 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.
    17. Bruno Amable, 2009. "The Differentiation of Social Demands in Europe. The Social Basis of the European Models of Capitalism," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 91(3), pages 391-426, May.
    18. Tony Edwards & Paul Marginson & Anthony Ferner, 2013. "Multinational Companies in Cross-National Context: Integration, Differentiation, and the Interactions between MNCS and Nation States," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 66(3), pages 547-587, May.
    19. Farkas Beáta, 2018. "What can institutional analysis say about capitalism in Central and Eastern Europe? Results and limitations," International Journal of Management and Economics, Warsaw School of Economics, Collegium of World Economy, vol. 54(4), pages 283-290, December.
    20. Jasiecki Krzysztof, 2018. "The strength and weaknesses of the varieties of capitalism approach: the case of Central and Eastern Europe," International Journal of Management and Economics, Warsaw School of Economics, Collegium of World Economy, vol. 54(4), pages 328-342, December.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:zbw:mpifgd:1012. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/mpigfde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.