Syllabus
Course Outline and Readings
Class 1: Introduction
Class 2: Models of Capitalism and the Welfare state
Arts and Gelissen (2002). Three worlds of welfare capitalism or more?
Crouch, C. (2005). Models of capitalism. New Political Economy, 10(4), 439-456.
Class 3: Globalization and pressures towards conformity?
Sapir, A. (2005). Globalisation and the Reform of European Social Models, Policy Contribution, Brussels, Bruegel Institute.
Hay, C. (2004). “Common Trajectories, Variable Paces, Divergent Outcomes? Models of European Capitalism under Conditions of Complex Interdependence”, Review of International Political Economy 11(2): 231-62.
Class 4: The Varieties of Capitalism theory
Hall, P. A. (2001). Varieties of capitalism. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.. pp. 1-68
Schneider and Paunescu (2012) Changing varieties of capitalism and revealed comparative advantages from 1990 to 2005: a test of the Hall and Soskice claims
Class 5: Institutions I – Industrial Relations
Rubery (2010). 'Employment relations', in Morgan, G., Campbell, J., Crouch, C., Pedersen, O. K., & Whitley, R. (Eds.). The Oxford handbook of comparative institutional analysis. OUP Oxford.
Thelen, K. (2001). ‘Varieties of Labor Politics in the Developed Democracies’ in Hall and Soskice, eds., Varieties of Capitalism: 71-103.
Class 6: Institutions II – Education, Training, and Work Organization
Thelen, K. (2007). “Skill Formation and Training”, in Jones and Zeitlin, The Oxford Handbook of Business History, 559-80.
Arundel, A., Lorenz, E., Lundvall, B. Å., & Valeyre, A. (2007). How Europe's economies learn: a comparison of work organization and innovation mode for the EU-15. Industrial and corporate change, 16(6), 1175-1210.
Class 7: Institutions IV - Corporate Governance and Finance
Goyer, M. (2010). Corporate Governance in G., Campbell, J., Crouch, C., Pedersen, O. K., & Whitley, R. (Eds.). The Oxford handbook of comparative institutional analysis. OUP Oxford.
Vitols, S. (2001). Varieties of Corporate Governance: Comparing Germany and the UK. In Varieties of Capitalism, edited by P. Hall and D. Soskice. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Class 8: Alternative Varieties I (France and Spain)
Schmidt (2003) French Capitalism transformed, yet still a third variety of capitalism, Economy and Society, 32:4
Molina and Rhodes (2007). The Political Economy of Adjustment in Mixed Market Economies: A Study of Spain in in Hancké, B., Rhodes, M., & Thatcher, M. (eds) Beyond varieties of capitalism: Conflict, contradictions, and complementarities in the European economy. Oxford University Press.
Classes 9: Alternative Varieties II (Denmark and CEE)
Campbell and Pedersen (2007) The Varieties of Capitalism and Hybrid Success Denmark in the Global Economy John L. Campbell
Nölke and Vliegenthart (2009) Enlarging the varieties of Capitalism the Emergence of Dependent Market Economies in East Central Europe
Classes 10: Adaptation and Change in National Models
Schnyder (2012) Like a phoenix from the ashes? Reassessing the transformation of the Swedish political economy since the 1970s, Journal of European Public Policy, 19:8
Jackson & Arndt Sorge (2012) The trajectory of institutional change in Germany, 1979–2009, Journal of European Public Policy, 19:8
Class 11: The EU’s effect on convergence and variety
Hassel, Knudsen and Wagner (2016) Winning the battle or losing the war: the impact of European integration on labour market institutions in Germany and Denmark
Prosser, T. (2017) Explaining Implementation through Varieties of Capitalism Theory: The Case of the Telework and Work-related Stress Agreements
Class 12: Moving forward with or beyond VoC theory?
Hancké, B., Rhodes, M., & Thatcher, M. (2008). Introduction: Beyond varieties of capitalism in Hancké, B., Rhodes, M., & Thatcher, M. (eds) Beyond varieties of capitalism: Conflict, contradictions, and complementarities in the European economy. Oxford University Press.
Hall, P. (2017) Varieties of capitalism in light of the euro crisis
Annotation
Capitalism is often depicted as a singular economic regime, an ideal-type that countries adhere to more or less closely. This course challenges that view.
We take as our starting point that there are different typologies and legitimate models of capitalism that vary according to institutional factors. These variations can be found and studied in different Western European countries by looking at the institutional endowments of those countries in several key areas: business and labor, education and training, the welfare state, and corporate governance and finance. The theoretical inspiration for the course comes from the literature on the varieties of capitalism (VoC), and we will use that theory and its key elements both as a subject of study and a jumping off point to frame our critical exploration.
Upon achieving a firm grasp of what makes capitalism varied, we will then look more closely through this lens at different member states and their institutions in an attempt to understand their enabling and constraining effects and the way in which they enact different varieties of capitalism. We will also consider how this differentiation creates challenges for European integration more broadly.