ABSTRACT
It would be interesting to investigate some features of the different nationalities’ response to the fi nancial crisis of 2008. This would explain, for instance, why the Chinese government was able to swiftly and effectively implement fi scal policies, especially public direct investment; why the actions of the US Federal Reserve were much more attractive than those of the US Department of Treasury; and why Germany’s foreign minister seemed “more passionate about taxes than foreign affairs.” 1 What are the reasons behind these systemic differences? A more general question is why do the focuses of national policies vary so much across countries, even though their sources of policies are to a great extent identical? Following this, similar inquiries would be: Why is it that national development experiences cannot mostly be transplanted successfully? And, how it is possible that ineffective trajectories persist over long periods of time? This study posits that the answer lies in the existence of the networks of institutions and thus of national systems of policies (NSP, hereafter) in national frameworks.
