Capitalisms Compared: Welfare, Work, and Business

How different would Americans’ lives be if they had guaranteed access to health care, generous public pensions, paid family leave, high-quality public pre-school care, increased rights at work, and a greater say in how corporations are run?

This one-of-a-kind book emphasizes that differences in policies and institutions affect the lives of citizens by comparing health, pension, and family policies, as well as labor markets and corporate governance in the United States, Sweden, and Germany. Demonstrating that the US model of capitalism is not the only one that is viable, Bowman encourages students not only to rethink their assumptions about what policy alternatives are feasible, but also to learn more about American capitalism through insightful contrast. Covering a wide range of policy areas and written in a crisp, engaging style, Capitalisms Compared is a perfect companion for courses in political economy and public policy.

Table of Contents:
Chapter 1: Introduction Comparing Political Economies: Markets, Politics, and Institutions Welfare States: Welfare State or Social Security State? The Social Democratic Welfare State: Politics against Markets The Liberal Welfare State: Embracing the Market The Conservative Welfare State: Protecting Society from the Market “Varieties of Capitalism:” Business Institutions and Strategies Liberal Market Economies: Reaching for the Invisible Hand Cooperative Market Economies: Patient Capital and Non-market Coordination The plan of this book Chapter 2: Health Policy Is Health Care a Commodity? Germany: Private Practice and Universal Coverage Basic Structure: Compulsory Non-profit Insurance Sweden: A Right to High Quality Health Care Basic Structure: County-level Provision of Services The United States: Incomplete Coverage through Private and Public Insurance The Private Welfare State in Health Care The Long Road to Health Policy Reform Present Structure: From Public Insurance to No Insurance Medicare Medicaid Private insurance The Uninsured Comparing Systems and Outcomes Chapter 3: Pension Policy Paying as You Go: Where Do Pensions Come From? Germany: Earnings-related Public Pensions Current Policy: The Shift away from Guaranteed Benefits Sweden: Public Pensions with “Notional” Accounting Current Policy: Introducing the Market to the Social Democratic Model The United States: A Public-Private Pension Mix with Precarious Retirement Social Security Today: A False Crisis Private Pensions: The Disappearing Promise Comparing Pension Systems and Outcomes Chapter 4: Family Policy Bringing Families Back In Sweden: Paid Family Leaves and Universal Public Childcare Current Policy: Toward Gender Equality? Germany : Moving Beyond the Male Breadwinner Model Current Policy: Family Leaves, Cash Assistance, and Child Care The United States: Juggling Work and Family through the Market Current Policy: The Limits of Tax Breaks Comparing Policies and Outcomes Chapter 5: The Labor Market Human Effort as a Commodity: The Distinctive Features of Labor Markets The “Two Faces of Unionism”: Are Unionized Firms more Efficient? The Structure of Collective Bargaining and the Logic Centralized Wage-setting Sweden: Flexible Centralization? The Historic Compromise Wage Bargaining in Contemporary Sweden Workplace Participation and Job Security Germany: Co-determination and Coordinated Bargaining Background and Overview Works Councils: Employee Representation on the Job Labor Market Organizations and Collective Bargaining Job Security and Labor Disputes The United States: Bargaining among Unequals The Rocky Path toward the Right to Unionize The Unionized Sector: Organization Wages, Benefits, and Protections: Comparing the Union and Non-union Sectors The Decline of Unions in the US Comparing Systems and Outcomes Chapter 6: Corporate Governance and Finance In Whose Interests? Shareholders Versus Stakeholders The United States: Stock Market Capitalism Run Amok? From Public Service Corporations to Industrial Capitalism From Managerialism to “Shareholder Value” Germany: Patient Capital and Bank Control Postwar Corporate Governance: The Classic German Model The Reform of German Corporate Governance Sweden: Capitalist Enterprise without Capitalists? The Post-War Model of Corporate Governance in Sweden Swedish Corporate Governance in Transition? The Financial Crisis of 2008-2009 and Its Aftermath Conclusion Chapter 7: The Viability of Alternative Forms of Capitalism Globalization and the Economic Feasibility of Alternative Capitalisms. Neoliberalism and the Political Feasibility of Alternative Capitalisms Conclusion: But Not in the US?

About the Author :
John R. Bowman is professor of political science at Queens College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. He is the author of Capitalist Collective Action: Competition, Cooperation, and Conflict in the Coal Industry, as well as articles on the politics of labor markets and social policy in both the United States and Western Europe.

Review :
"The comparisons between the U.S., Sweden, and Germany, which retain great analytical clarity and sophistication throughout, are superbly structured. The detail on recent policy reform, in chapters such as pensions or the labor market, are an especially welcome component which has no real competitor text. The fact is that you cannot find any other book that is as comprehensive in making structured public policy comparisons to understand the rich variety of capitalistic models that the modern world economy is capable of producing." "Capitalisms Compared provides, in a single source, an accessible, effective, and productive comparative analysis of the character and practical operation of different types of capitalism and, in so doing, details the main insights of the field of political economy and thereby addresses a noteworthy deficiency that currently plagues the extant scholarship. John Bowman has developed a text that is at the forefront of its genre. I would strongly recommend it not only to teachers of comparative public policy and political economy, but also to anyone interested in gaining a sound understanding of the field." "I am quite impressed by the individual chapters on policy areas and countries, in their accessible and readable treatment of the subject, rich examples, and the right amount of detail. They reflect solid research and expert knowledge, especially in reference to the relevant empirical data and history of each of the three welfare states."