Varieties of Capitalism

Since the 1980s, American-led financialization promoting capital and labour mobility has influenced Asia, but the Japanese and Chinese trajectories in financialization of consumption (consumer credit development) have diverged, with the 1995–2013 contraction in Japan contrasting with the skyrocketing growth in China since 2010. I argue the divergence can be attributed to the varying levels of compatibility between American financial norms and their social norms, the different timings of their integration into the global economy (the influence of ‘embedded liberalism’ or neoliberalism), and the interests of key actors of each country. Anti-liberal Japanese elites reversed the financialization of consumption to preserve anti-capitalistic ‘industrious norms’ and strong attachments to intermediary organisations, which are the cornerstones of their dominance. In contrast, economic rationalism embedded in Chinese society since late imperial China, when capital and labour mobility was enhanced by removing fixed intermediary organisations considerably under autocracy, has facilitated China’s financialization of consumption.

This article tests the extent to which the organization and stringency of occupational health and safety regulation complements the dominant mode of coordination in the political economy. While the UK explicitly sanctions risk-cost-benefit trade-offs, other European countries mandate ambitious safety goals. That contrast appears to reflect cleavages identified in the Varieties of Capitalism literature, which suggests worker protection regimes are stronger in coordinated market economies than in liberal market economies. Our analysis of Germany, France, UK and the Netherlands, shows that the varied organization of their regulatory regimes is explained through a three-way complementarity with their welfare systems and modes of coordination. However, despite varied headline goals, we find no systematic differences in the stringency of those countries’ regulatory protections insofar as they all make trade-offs on safety. Instead, the explicitness, rationalizations and logics of trade-of...

This is a book about how 21st Century capitalism really works. Modern economics strips away social, historical, and political context from analysis of ‘the economic’, but the economy is far too important to leave exclusively to the economists. Comparative Political Economy (CPE) is a much broader, richer intellectual undertaking which ‘re-embeds’ the analysis of the economic within the social and political realm. This is at the heart of how to think like a political economist.

Clift maps the terrain, substantive focus and evolution of CPE. This provides the analytical tools to explore the many variants of capitalism, unearthing their roots in competing visions of the desirable distribution of the fruits of growth within firms and across societies, and varied practices of market-making across the advanced economies. Drawing on the insights of classical political economy, the book explains how these visions generate ongoing political struggles over how to regulate and manage capitalism.

This book connects Comparative Political Economy systematically to the subfield of International Political Economy (IPE), calling for cross-fertilisation between the two. Exploring key concepts and theoretical debates in the long-established field of Political Economy, this book analyses the production, reproduction and distribution of power and wealth within contemporary world order.

Connects Comparative political economy (CPE) systematically to the subfield of International Political economy – ideal for courses on each.
• Sets out the scope of political economy to provide the groundwork both for thinking like a political economist, and for in-depth exploration of CPE.
• Delineates the central focus of comparative political economy, charting its genealogy via consideration of some of the towering scholarship in the field
• Maps the major substantive themes, empirical developments and theoretical debates within the field of CPE over the last 50 years
• Provides the analytical toolkit – honed and crafted by the great political economy scholars of the past – for an in-depth analysis of contemporary dynamics in state/market relations
• Situates contemporary CPE within the evolution of the Classical political economy of Smith, Marx, List and  others, as well as seminal interventions by Hayek, Keynes and Polanyi

y Desarrollo en América Latina written by Cardoso and Falleto at the beginning of the seventies, that inaugurated a Latin American socioeconomic or political economy perspective named the Dependence School has probably been the most influential book coming from the continent. It had significant influence not only in all the countries of the region, but it extended its influence to the United States and Europe. This phenomenon was even more striking as the norm had been that Latin American adopts its perspectives from the more developed countries. The book was written to try to explain why Latin American economies that had advanced significantly in the fifties and sixties in their effort to develop through the import substitution industrialization model had not achieved their goals by the end of the sixties. While most analysts were invoking economic explanations, macro and micro economic ones, Cardoso and Faletto insisted that neither an economic nor a purely sociological analysis was sufficient. They insisted that an integrated analysis was necessary, one that combined economy, sociology and politics, what we could call a socioeconomic perspective or a perspective of political economy, a perspective that regulation theory has advanced more than any other. They defended the idea that development was a social process. In order to analyze this process, they argued that "development had to be explained by the interaction of groups, social classes that have different interests and values, and that through their opposition and agreement give life to the socioeconomic system". The economic system is not autonomous of the socio-political situation of a country, but it is dependent on how different social groups constitute coalitions to impose their interests, and force their domination to the rest of the society in order to implement a certain economic model. Cardoso and Faletto proposed that the forces that shape the economy of a specific country were not only domestic but that they interact with international forces. This is especially true in countries that are economically dependent on the international markets. They insisted that the relation between the international and the internal forces is always conflictual, which means that although the dependent countries in fact have a subordinate relation with the international

The economic and political situation of Latin America has changed drastically since the end of the commodity super-cycle. It signified a downturn from the previous decade and a half that had seen the continent grow at rates and income distribution not seen since the "glorious thirties" of the 50-70's. Behind the apparent homogeneity of the way this boom affected Latin America, there were significant differences. Some countries grew mainly based on the export of commodities, others with a combination of exports and internal market expansion through redistribution, others still, assembling manufactured products to be exported. On the other hand, some countries were basing growth mainly on market dynamics, with little State intervention, betting on the fact that the profits of the private sector would be reinvested in the economy while others centered on strong State investment and redistribution of part of the exceptional profits from commodity exports, in order to expand the internal market. Macroeconomic explanations of the crisis that, in many countries of the continent (most notably Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, and more recently Colombia, Bolivia, and Chile) ensued the downturn of the demand and prices of commodities, are unable to explain the differences between these countries and their diverse trajectories after the crisis. Nor do institutionalist explanations that focus exclusively on the presence or not of strong and stable institutions that deal better with external shocks (Rodrik, 1999). In fact, not all Latin American countries suffered equally by the end of the commodity boom. Countries like Argentina and Brazil, that have a significant industrial base and an internal market that allows us to consider they are not exclusively rentier countries, although they have increased their dependence on commodities in the last two decades, and that in addition still have relatively strong institutions (the State apparatus, the political system, industrial relations) fell into a crisis sooner than other countries that have weaker institutions and that are almost exclusively dependent on commodity exports (Peru, Colombia, Bolivia, Chile)...

Управо је из штампе изашла нова и интересантна књига Његовог Преосвештенства Епископа источноамеричког Иринеја (Добријевића), под насловом: ''Православни дух и етика капитализма: Студија случаја на примеру Србије и Црне Горе и Српске Православне Цркве''.

Since 1989, no major European merger has been able to go through without EU approval. The introduction of a centralized merger control procedure was another increase in the powers of the Commission's Directorate-General for Competition (DG COMP). While some see it playing a neo-mercantilist role in a positive European integration, others underline its neoliberal ideological roots. Through our analysis of all merger decisions made between 1990 and 2016 (6,161 cases), we instead find evidence for market-centred negative integration: DG COMP is particularly harsh towards coordinated market economies and targets sectors that have high levels of state intervention , thus thwarting the rise of 'European champions'. Our interviews with merger experts and the decision citation data further suggest that this market-centred logic of enforcement is not necessarily driven by ideology, but by the silent logic of bureaucratic autonomy. We thus contribute to the debate on the EU as a supranational force of economic liberalization.

In 1938, populația rurală era de 80% din total si la fel ca generațiile de pana la căderea ortodoxo-comunismului vedeau in capitalism mai toate relele lumii. Elitele de azi, din sectorul economic de stat sau în cel bugetar - 24 ministere, 100 agenții guvernamentale, 1,2 milioane salariați - au capturat statul, se rotesc și se promovează reciproc la fel ca în ortodoxo-comunism (n.a.) si sunt atrase de capitalismul de stat, „prin noi înșine“, in secolele trecute si „de cumetrie”, in vremea noastra. Capitalismul își arată astfel efectele neplăcute, si de aici, influența pe care o au ideile anti-capitaliste, anti-democratice, anti-occidentale ale politicienilor populisti. Ph.D. Silviu Cerna, Economia între populismul politicienilor și capturarea statului de către vânătorii de rente, 28/12/2020
*
Roman, V., Capitalism ortodox, ed. Augusta, Timișoara 1999, 483 p.
Roman, V., Semnele vremii, ed. Artpress, Timișoara, 2018, 277 p.
Roman, V., Secretul occidentului, ed. Artpress, Timișoara, 2019, 263 p.
Roman, V., Feudalismul actual moldo-valah, ed. Artpress, Timișoara, 2020, 292 p.
Roman, V., In vremea molimei, ed, Cosmopolitanart, Timișoara, 2021, 465 p.
*
Romanii in laboratorul mondial 70 / cu capitalism ortodox 67, 68 / capturarea statului de către vânătorii de rente, opinii; 39-37 / Drumul spre Iad este pavat cu intenții bune; 25 / Clientelism
Romanii in laboratorul european 308 / noul capitalism; 238 Rent-Seeking Society; 232 / Mafia de partid si de stat; 124 / democratie originala cu capitalism de cumetrie
*
https://www.academia.edu/38740477/Feudalismul_actual_moldo_valah_6_contiunarea_celui_ceausist
http://www.ziarulnatiunea.ro/2013/01/24/viziuni-ortodoxe/
https://www.academia.edu/27240809/Romania_2030
https://ioncoja.ro/viorel-roman-romania-stat-mafiot/
https://www.amosnews.ro/statul-mafiot-2017-03-27
https://ioncoja.ro/viorel-roman-statul-la-romani/
https://www.academia.edu/36575119/ROMANIA_BETWEEN_THE_WESTERN_EUROPEAN_AND_ORTHODOX_VALUES_AND_NORMS

This article investigates the history of the German-Greek relationship in the context of European integration and demonstrates that West Germany and German-Greek business networks played a crucial role in the shaping of Greece's postwar growth model. The article challenges the assumption that the relationship between the two countries is overshadowed by the past. In contrast, it shows that postwar German-Greek relations were forged around European integration with an eye to the future and that it was the two countries' early rapprochement and the mutual accommodation of their respective aims that laid the foundations of their asymmetrical interdependence. In doing so, the article argues that it was the success of Greece's European strategy, rather than its failure, that lies at the heart of its recurring balance-of-payments problems: a lingering trade deficit with Germany, the country's major trading partner, proved to be, as I will show, the price for growth and modernization.

In this study, we examine the extent to which socioeconomic institutions shape young people's perceptions of labour market opportunity structures and their employment attitudes (i.e. skills and retraining). Building on the varieties of capitalism approach, we expect young people (aged 18-35) in coordinated market economies (CMEs) with encompassing welfare states to regard firm-and industry-specific skills as more important than their peers in liberal market economies (LMEs). To assess this proposition, we draw on original survey data and compare young people's employment attitudes in five European countries: the United Kingdom (UK), which represents a typical liberal market economy, and Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland as representatives of coordinated market economies. To what extent do different training regimes in CMEs and LMEs shape individual attitudes towards skill formation? The empirical analysis shows that young people's attitudes with regard to the specificity of skills and the willingness to undertake retraining differ systematically between CME and LME countries and supports our argument that the specific socioeconomic institutions matter.

Διδακτορική διατριβή
ΠΑΝΕΠΙΣΤΗΜΙΟ ΠΑΤΡΩΝ
ΣΧΟΛΗ ΑΝΘΡΩΠΙΣΤΙΚΩΝ & ΚΟΙΝΩΝΙΚΩΝ ΕΠΙΣΤΗΜΩΝ ΤΜΗΜΑ ΕΠΙΣΤΗΜΩΝ ΤΗΣ ΕΚΠΑΙΔΕΥΣΗΣ ΚΑΙ ΤΗΣ ΑΓΩΓΗΣ ΣΤΗΝ ΠΡΟΣΧΟΛΙΚΗ ΗΛΙΚΙΑ


ΠΕΡΙΛΗΨΗ
Το πεδίο αναφοράς της διδακτορικής διατριβής είναι οι δεξιότητες. Εντός της εν λόγω ερευνητικής περιοχής, τα συγκεκριμένα αντικείμενα έρευνας είναι (α) η παρουσίαση και ανάλυση του μεταβαλλόμενου περιεχόμενου και της διαχρονικής εξέλιξης της έννοιας της δεξιότητας σε συνδυασμό με τις κυριότερες πολιτικές προτεραιότητες, (β) η εξέταση των βασικών θεωριών στις οποίες θεμελιώνονται η έρευνα και οι σύγχρονες πολιτικές δεξιοτήτων και (γ) η κατασκευή και παρουσίαση μιας συνθετικής κατηγοριοποίησης των διαφορετικών ειδών δεξιοτήτων, με τρόπο που να συγκροτεί αφενός ένα γενικό υπόδειγμα τυπολογίας δεξιοτήτων, αφετέρου ένα εργαλείο πρακτικής διερεύνησης και καταγραφής των αναγκαίων δεξιοτήτων σε επίπεδο επαγγέλματος. Σε αυτό το πλαίσιο βασικοί στόχοι της έρευνας αποτελούν:
- Η κατανόηση των διακυμάνσεων και των συνεπαγωγών από τις διαφορετικές και διαχρονικά μεταβαλλόμενες νοηματοδοτήσεις της έννοιας των δεξιοτήτων.
- Η διατύπωση ζωτικών επισημάνσεων για τις κύριες ορίζουσες των πολιτικών δεξιοτήτων.
- Η παρουσίαση και ερμηνεία των βασικών θεωρητικών προσεγγίσεων ανά επιστημονικό πεδίο που επηρεάζουν αφενός το σχεδιασμό των πολιτικών δεξιοτήτων, αφετέρου την κατηγοριοποίηση των διαφόρων ειδών δεξιοτήτων σε ομοειδείς ομάδες.
- Η ανάδειξη της σημασίας, χρησιμότητας, ιδιαιτερότητας, αλλά και των περιορισμών και δυσκολιών ως προς την κατασκευή μιας τυπολογίας δεξιοτήτων.
- Η ερμηνεία της αρχιτεκτονικής, του χαρακτήρα και του περιεχομένου των πιο σημαντικών υφιστάμενων τυπολογιών δεξιοτήτων.
- Η κατασκευή και τεκμηρίωση μιας περιεκτικής και ολοκληρωμένης τυπολογίας των διαφορετικών ειδών δεξιοτήτων που θεωρούνται αναγκαίες για την εργασία καθώς και ενός εργαλείου διάγνωσης και αξιολόγησης δεξιοτήτων.

Η διατριβή αποτελείται από έξι κεφάλαια: δύο εισαγωγικά κεφάλαια (εισαγωγή και μεθοδολογία – ερωτήματα έρευνας), τρία κεφάλαια που αποτελούν την καθαυτό έρευνα, και το κεφάλαιο με τις συμπερασματικές επισημάνσεις. Ακολουθούν οι βιβλιογραφικές αναφορές και παράρτημα που περιλαμβάνει υλικά τεκμηρίωσης του εμπειρικού μέρους της έρευνας. Συγκεκριμένα, στο κεφάλαιο της εισαγωγής προσδιορίζονται το αντικείμενο και οι στόχοι της έρευνας, τα κριτήρια επιλογής, η σκοπιμότητα και η σημασία διερεύνησης του θέματος, γίνεται αναφορά στην συμβολή της διδακτορικής εργασίας στον ακαδημαϊκό διάλογο και παρουσιάζεται μια πρώτη οριοθέτηση των βασικών πτυχών του υπό έρευνα θέματος. Στο κεφάλαιο που ακολουθεί την εισαγωγή, αναπτύσσονται οι ερευνητικοί άξονες και τα επιμέρους ερευνητικά επίκεντρα που πλοήγησαν την έρευνα και διατυπώνονται οι μεθοδολογικές παραδοχές και επιλογές, δηλαδή ο συνδυασμός βιβλιογραφικής επισκόπησης, ανάλυσης περιεχομένου βασικών κειμένων και εμπειρικής διερεύνησης, η οποία υλοποιήθηκε μέσω συνεντεύξεων, εργαστηρίων διαλόγου και συμμετοχικής παρατήρησης ομάδων εστιασμένης συζήτησης (focus groups). Ακολουθεί το κεφάλαιο «Για την έννοια της δεξιότητας και τον πολιτικό χειρισμό της» όπου αναπτύσσονται δύο θέματα σε αντίστοιχες υποενότητες. Το πρώτο αφορά στην κατανόηση της έννοιας των δεξιοτήτων, την ιστορική της εξέλιξη, τους ορισμούς που προτείνονται για τη δεξιότητα, αλλά και την ασάφεια στα εννοιολογικά της όρια, όπως και τις συνάψεις της με πεδία και θέματα που την οριοθετούν. Η πρώτη ενότητα του κεφαλαίου κλείνει με την παρουσίαση μιας πολυδιάστατης νοηματοδότησης της έννοιας της δεξιότητας εκ μέρους του Francis Green. Η δεύτερη ενότητα του κεφαλαίου συνδέεται άμεσα με τον ορισμό της δεξιότητας και αφορά τις βασικές ορίζουσες των πολιτικών δεξιοτήτων στο πλαίσιο της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης, αλλά και στη βάση εμβληματικών παρεμβάσεων και κειμένων διεθνών οργανισμών. Η λογική της ανάπτυξης του επιχειρήματος είναι να συνδέσει τις σύγχρονες αποχρώσεις της έννοιας της δεξιότητας με τον τρέχοντα πολιτικό χειρισμό της, δηλαδή να συνδυάσει το νόημα με τις χρήσεις της έννοιας της δεξιότητας, όπως εκφράζεται στις επίσημες διακηρύξεις των στρατηγικών δεξιοτήτων. Το εν λόγω κεφάλαιο, συνεπώς, πραγματεύεται την έννοια και τις βασικές γραμμές των πολιτικών δεξιοτήτων, διακριτά, αλλά και στη μεταξύ τους συνάφεια. Το επόμενο κεφάλαιο, με τίτλο «Θεωρητικές προσεγγίσεις σχετικά με τις δεξιότητες», προκειμένου να εμβαθύνει στο νόημα της έννοιας και των πολιτικών δεξιοτήτων αναζητά τις θεωρητικές αφετηρίες του τρέχοντος ενδιαφέροντος για τις δεξιότητες. Εξετάζει πως έχουν αντιληφθεί και θεματοποιήσει τις δεξιότητες τέσσερεις μείζονες επιστημονικές περιοχές: η Οικονομική θεωρία, η Κοινωνιολογία, η Πολιτική επιστήμη και οι Εκπαιδευτικές θεωρίες - Θεωρίες μάθησης. Επιπλέον, επιδίωξη του κεφαλαίου είναι να εξετάσει τις σχετικές με τις δεξιότητες θεωρητικές αφαιρέσεις στην διαχρονική τους συγκρότηση και στην μεταξύ τους συσχέτιση, αναδεικνύοντας βασικές θεωρητικές και ιδεολογικές συγκλίσεις και αποκλίσεις. Το εν λόγω κεφάλαιο συνεπώς προσπαθεί να «φωτίσει» τη σύγχρονη έννοια της δεξιότητας και την χρήση της στα πεδία των πολιτικών εκπαίδευσης και απασχόλησης, εκθέτοντας τη θεωρητική γενεαλογία της. Το κεφάλαιο με τίτλο «Κατηγοριοποιήσεις δεξιοτήτων: Πρόταση για μια τυπολογία των αναγκαίων για την εργασία δεξιοτήτων και ένα εργαλείο διάγνωσης δεξιοτήτων» επιδιώκει να αποτελέσει το κυριότερο αποτέλεσμα της διδακτορικής διατριβής. Δεδομένου ότι έχουν, στα προηγούμενα κεφάλαια, παρουσιαστεί ο θεωρητικά πολυσήμαντος, ιδεολογικά φορτισμένος και οικονομικά και πολιτικά κρίσιμος χαρακτήρας του επιστημονικού διαλόγου για τις δεξιότητες καθώς και των πολιτικών ανάπτυξης και ενεργοποίησης των δεξιοτήτων, επιχειρείται μια επισκόπηση των πιο διαδεδομένων κατηγοριοποιήσεων των δεξιοτήτων με σκοπό να κατασκευαστεί, να τεκμηριωθεί και να προταθεί μια αναλυτική και περιεκτική τυπολογία των αναγκαίων για την εργασία δεξιοτήτων («μείγμα δεξιοτήτων»), η οποία αφενός θα κατηγοριοποιεί σε μια συνεκτική ακολουθία διαφορετικών «οικογενειών» συναφών δεξιοτήτων όλες τις μεμονωμένες δεξιότητες, αφετέρου θα προτείνει επίπεδα και κριτήρια διερεύνησης, ανάλυσης και αξιολόγησής τους. H διασταύρωση της προτεινόμενης κατηγοριοποίησης δεξιοτήτων με τις δέσμες ερωτήσεων αποτίμησης των δεξιοτήτων αποδίδει ένα πρακτικό ερευνητικό εργαλείο ικανό να συμβάλλει στην καταγραφή των υφιστάμενων και την πρόγνωση των αναδυόμενων και μελλοντικών δεξιοτήτων ανά επάγγελμα ή θέση εργασίας. Τέλος, στο κεφάλαιο των συμπερασμάτων συνοψίζονται τα επιμέρους ευρήματα σε άμεση συσχέτιση με τα ερευνητικά ερωτήματα και κωδικοποιούνται τα συνολικά αποτελέσματα και πορίσματα της έρευνας.

This paper is an introductory attempt to grasp the contours of the Social Credit System (SCS) of China. As a designed system having regulatory components both for the sphere of production and daily life, the SCS is considered and criticized  "a new kind of oppression tool of China" by the global capitalist north. In this paper, we defend that a system like the SCS would not be unique for a country under the conditions of digital capitalism. Such a system could bring various risks (technology oriented inspection and surveillance) for everyone living different geographies of capitalism.

The Supreme Entity is the real owner of Its creation, not any created individual or individuals within the creation. The entire animate world is a vast joint family. All members of this joint family have equal rights to enjoy the creation and to all-around progress. This is the message of P. R. Sarkar, the founder of a global movement of spiritually-oriented and socially-minded intellectuals, artists and writers called Renaissance Universal. P. R. Sarkar (1922-1990) was a spiritual teacher (also known as Shrii Shrii Anandamurti) and guru in the tradition of Shiva and Krishna and was the founder of the international socio-spiritual movement Ananda Marga (“The Path of Bliss”) -- Richard Gauthier, Department of Chemistry and Physics, Santa Rosa Junior College, Santa Rosa, California, USA, November 8, 2020.