278 research outputs found
Social democracy, embeddedness and decommodification: On the conceptual innovations and intellectual affiliations of Karl Polanyi
Of the several debates that revolve around the work of the economic historian and political economist Karl Polanyi, one that continues to exercise minds concerns his analysis of, and political attitudes toward, post-war capitalism and the welfare state. Simplified a little, it is a debate with two sides. To borrow IvĂĄn SzelĂ©nyi's terms, one side constructs a âhardâ Karl Polanyi, the other a âsoftâ one. The former advocated a socialist mixed economy dominated by redistributive mechanisms. He was a radical socialist for whom the market should never be the dominant mechanism of economic coordination. His âsoftâ alter ego insisted that the market system remain essentially intact but be complemented by redistributive mechanisms. The âdouble movementâ â the central thesis of his âGreat Transformationâ â acts, in this reading, as a self-correcting mechanism that moderates the excesses of market fundamentalism; its author was positioned within the social-democratic mainstream for which the only realistic desirable goal is a regulated form of capitalism. In terms of textual evidence there is much to be said for both interpretations. In this article I suggest a different approach, one that focuses upon the meaning of Polanyi's concepts in relation to their socio-political and intellectual environment
Neoliberal growth models, monetary union and the Euro Crisis : a post-Keynesian perspective
The paper offers an account of the Euro crisis based on post-Keynesian monetary theory and its typology of demand regimes. Neoliberalism has transformed social and financial relations in Europe but it has not given rise to a sustained profit-led growth process. Instead, growth has relied either on financial bubbles and rising household debt (âdebt-driven growthâ) or on net exports (âexport-driven growthâ). In Europe the financial crisis has been amplified by an economic policy architecture (the Stability and Growth Pact) that aimed at restricting the role of fiscal policy and monetary policy. This neoliberal economic policy regime in conjunction with the separation of monetary and fiscal spheres has turned the financial crisis of 2007 into a sovereign debt crisis in southern Europe
Colonialism, postcolonialism and the liberal welfare state
This article addresses the colonial and racial origins of the welfare state with a particular emphasis on the liberal welfare state of the USA and UK. Both are understood in terms of the centrality of the commodified status of labour power expressing a logic of market relations. In contrast, we argue that with a proper understanding of the relations of capitalism and colonialism, the sale of labour power as a commodity already represents a movement away from the commodified form of labour represented by enslavement. European colonialism is integral to the development of welfare states and their forms of inclusion and exclusion which remain racialised through into the twenty-first century
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Review Article: When 'life itself' goes to work: Reviewing shifts in organizational life through the lens of biopower
This review article suggests the English publication of Foucaultâs lectures on biopower, The Birth of Biopolitics (2008), might be useful for extending our understandings of how organizational power relations have changed over the last 20 years. Unlike disciplinary power, which constrains and delimits individuals, the concept of biopower emphasizes how our life abilities and extra-work qualities (bios or âlife itselfâ) are now key objects of exploitation â particularly under neoliberalism. The term biocracy is introduced to analyse recent reports on workplace experiences symptomatic of biopower. Finally, the conceptual weaknesses of biopower for organizational theorizing are critically evaluated to help develop the idea for future scholarship
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Remarks on Andrew Lang's World Trade Law After Neo-Liberalism
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Managerial power in the German model: the case of Bertelsmann and the antecedents of neoliberalism
Our article extends the research on authoritarian neoliberalism to Germany, through a history of the Bertelsmann media corporation â sponsor and namesake of Germanyâs most influential neoliberal think-tank. Our article makes three conceptual moves. Firstly, we argue that conceptualizing German neoliberalism in terms of an âordoliberal paradigmâ is of limited use in explaining the rise and fall of Germanyâs distinctive socio-economic model (Modell Deutschland). Instead, we locate the origins of authoritarian tendencies in the corporate power exercised by managers rather than in the power of state-backed markets imagined by ordoliberals. Secondly, we focus on the managerial innovations of Bertelsmann as a key actor enmeshed with Modell Deutschland. We show that the adaptation of business management practices of an endogenous âCologne Schoolâ empowered Bertelsmannâs postwar managers to overcome existential crises and financial constraints despite being excluded from Germanyâs corporate support network. Thirdly, we argue that their further development in the 1970s also enabled Bertelsmann to curtail and circumvent the forms of labour representation associated with Modell Deutschland. Inspired by cybernetic management theories that it used to limit and control rather than revive market competition among its workforce, Bertelsmann began to act and think outside the postwar settlement between capital and labour before the settlementâs hotly-debated demise since the 1990s
Wageâled versus profitâled demand: a comprehensive empirical analysis
This study investigates various economic factorsâ impact in determining the relationship between functional income distribution and aggregate demand from both a theoretical and an empirical viewpoint. We base our analysis on a demandâdriven growth model for an open economy that allows for either profitâled or wageâled regimes. Our results strongly indicate that a higher level of trade openness is associated with a lower probability of being wageâled. We find evidence that lower wage inequality makes an economy more wageâled and that countries with a greater private creditâtoâgross domestic product (GDP) ratio are more likely to be profitâled
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