Bernhard Ebbinghaus and Philip Manow (eds.) Comparing Welfare Capitalism Social Policy and Political Economy in Europe, Japan and the USA   Routledge/EUI Studies in the Political Economy of the Welfare State 3   London, New York: Routledge, 2001 352 pages ISBN 9-780-415-40653-6 (paperback) | £20.00 | € 31,50 ISBN 9-780-415-25571-4 (hardback) | £85.00 | € 128,50 Order directly from Routledge.

 

 

Abstract | Contents | Editors

 

 

Abstract

 
This book challenges the popular thesis of a downward trend in the viability of welfare states in competitive market economies. With approaches ranging from historical case studies to cross-national analyses, the contributors explore various aspects of the relationships between welfare states, industrial relations, financial government and production systems. Building upon and combining comparative studies of both the varieties of capitalism and the worlds of welfare state regimes, the book considers issues such as the role of employers and unions in social policy, the interdependencies between financial markets and pension systems, and the current welfare reform process. Comparing Welfare Capitalism sheds new light on the tenuous relationship between social policies and market economies.

 

 

Contents

 

Part I   The origins and development of welfare capitalism
1	Introduction: studying varieties of welfare capitalism Bernhard Ebbinghaus and Philip Manow
Part II   Industrial relations and welfare state regimes
1	Introduction: studying varieties of welfare capitalism Bernhard Ebbinghaus and Philip Manow
2	Business coordination, wage bargaining and the welfare state: Germany and Japan in comparative historical perspective Philip Manow
3	Strategic bargaining and social policy development: unemployment insurance in France and Germany Isabela Mares
4	When labour and capital collude: the political economy of early retirement in Europe, Japan and the USA Bernhard Ebbinghaus
5	Welfare state regimes and industrial relations systems: the questionable role of path dependency theory Colin Crouch
6	Social partnership, welfare state regimes and working time in Europe Hugh Compston
7	The governance of the employment-welfare relationship in Britain and Germany Anke Hassel
Part III   Pension regimes and financial systems
8	Between financial commitment, market liquidity and corporate governance: occupational pensions in Britain, Germany, Japan and the USA Gregory Jackson and Sigurt Vitols
9	The forgotten link: the financial regulation of Japanese pensions funds in comparative perspective Margarita Estevez-Abe
Part IV   The political economy of welfare state reform
10	The experience of negotiated reforms in the Dutch and German welfare states Anton Hemerijck and Philip Manow
11	The challenge of de-industrialisation: divergent ideological responses to welfare state reform Anne Wren
12	Employment and the welfare state: a continental dilemma  Fritz W. Scharpf
Part V   Conclusions
13	The politics of elective affinities: a commentary Michael Shalev
14	Varieties of welfare capitalism: an outlook on future directions of research Bernhard Ebbinghaus and PhilipManow

 

 

Editors

 
Bernhard Ebbinghaus is Senior Researcher at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies (MPIfG) in Cologne. He was a John F. Kennedy Fellow (1999/ 2000) at the Centre for European Studies (CES) at Harvard University and has co-authored a comparative handbook, Trade Unions in Western Europe since 1945.
Philip Manow is Assistant Professor in the department of Politics and Management, University of Konstanz. From 1990-2000 he was a research fellow at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies. He has written two books on German health policy and published widely on social policy.