Melbourne, Australia — 10 August, 2007— Despite the strong influences of globalization, diversity in welfare regimes remains. A study in the special issue of Regulation & Governance published by Wiley-Blackwell traces the distinctions between institutional competitiveness and social investment in developed countries and reveals that differing institutional practices hold similar capacity for economic growth.
Dr Paul Bernard – lead author of “Institutional competitiveness, social investment and welfare regimes”—notes that institutional differences influence how markets, the state and families share the work of producing and distributing welfare. While the markets in all societies play a determining role on how individuals make money, the role of state varies.
The study identifies three distinct models. Nordic societies adopt high social investment strategies to boost labour participation, and Anglo-Saxon societies use a laissez-faire, low social investment approach, while continental Europe struggles with various combinations.
Dr Bernard argues that there are two different and successful ways to promote a broad participation of the population in paid work, so as to sustain economic development.
One requires making substantial social investments, which are self-sustainable in the long run; the other, neo-liberal, approach is less impeded by taxes but brings about substantial inequality.
He adds “While the rest of the developed countries adopt a mixed policy, they will eventually have to proceed either down the neo-liberal path, or towards social investment to attain institutional competitiveness.”
This article is featured in special issue of Regulation & Governance that focuses on Globalization and Institutional Competitiveness. Guest editors Martin Marcussen and Lars Bo Kaspersen have also written an article “Globalization and institutional Competitiveness” for the issue.
Other articles in the special issue will include:
Peer Hull Kristensen and Glenn Morgan, “Multinationals and Institutional Competitiveness”
Kathleen Thelen, “Contemporary Challenges to the German Vocational Training System”
Colin Crouch, “Neo-institutionalism: Still No Intellectual Hegemony?”
John L. Campbell & Ove K. Pedersen, “Institutional Competitiveness in the Global Economy: Denmark, the United States and Varieties of Capitalism”
This paper is published in the September 2007 issue of Regulation & Governance (Vol. 1: (3)) Media wishing to receive a PDF or schedule media interviews with the authors should contact Alina Boey, PR & Communications Manager Asia at alina.boey@asia.blackwellpublishing.com or phone 613-83591046.
Dr Paul Bernard is the Professor of Sociology at the Universite de Montreal. He is a member of the National Statistic Council of Canada, of the Board of the Social Research and Demonstration Corporation, and in the leadership of the Population, Work, and Family Collaboration, involving academics and federal government departments.
About Regulation & Governance
Regulation & Governance aims to serve as the leading platform for the study of regulation and governance by political scientists, lawyers, sociologists, historians, criminologists, psychologists, anthropologists, economists, and others. Research on regulation and governance, once fragmented across various disciplines and subject areas, and has emerged at the cutting edge of paradigmatic change in the social sciences. Through the peer-reviewed journal Regulation & Governance, we seek to advance discussions between various disciplines about regulation and governance, promote the development of new theoretical and empirical understanding, and serve the growing needs of practitioners for a useful academic reference. Published quarterly, Regulation & Governance will be essential reading for academics, regulators and regulatory experts throughout the world. It will provide a forum for original research, debate and refinement of key ideas and findings in one of the most important fields of the social sciences.
About Wiley-Blackwell
Wiley-Blackwell was formed in February 2007 as a result of the merger between Blackwell Publishing Ltd. and John Wiley & Sons, Inc.'s Scientific, Technical, and Medical business. Together, the companies have created a global publishing business with deep strength in every major academic and professional field. Wiley-Blackwell publishes approximately 1,250 scholarly peer-reviewed journals and an extensive collection of books with global appeal.
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