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
* the current welfare reform process.
It sheds new light on the tenuous relationship between social policies and market economies and provides thought-provoking reading for students and scholars of Comparative Politics, Public Policy, the Welfare State and Political Economy.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part |2 pages
Part I The origins and development of welfare capitalism
chapter 2|25 pages
Business coordination, wage bargaining and the welfare state
chapter 3|24 pages
Strategic bargaining and social policy development: unemployment insurance in
chapter 4|27 pages
When labour and capital collude
part |2 pages
Part II Industrial relations and welfare state regimes
chapter 5|20 pages
Welfare state regimes and industrial relations systems
part |2 pages
Part III Pension regimes and financial systems
chapter 8|19 pages
Between financial commitment, market liquidity and corporate governance
chapter 9|25 pages
The forgotten link
part |2 pages
Part IV The political economy of welfare state reform
chapter 11|31 pages
The challenge of de-industrialisation
part |2 pages
Part V Conclusions