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Employment 'Miracles': A Critical Comparison of the Dutch, Scandinavian, Swiss, Australian and Irish Cases versus Germany and the US
Author(s): Uwe Becker (Editor), Herman Schwartz
Publisher: Routledge
Publication Date: 9 Feb. 2014
Edition: 1st
Language: English
Print length: 288 pages
ISBN-10: 9053567550
ISBN-13: 9789053567555
Book Description
The employment ‘miracles’ of the late 20th and early 21st century in Australia and smaller European countries like the Netherlands and Denmark have usually been considered the result of macro-economic policy and corporatist negotiations that lead to wage restraint, increased exports, and eventually more jobs. This book shows that accidental circumstances have been just as important as deliberate policies. Particularly striking is the strong correspondence of the housing price bubble-induced wealth effect and related surges in mortgage-financed consumption to the positive economic development and increased employment in most of these ‘miracles’ – a correspondence that also characterises recent US economic development. The Finnish, Irish, and Swedish upsurge is furthermore, similar to the one in the US, due to innovative policy. Wage restraint, so central to the discussion of ‘new social pacts’, did not make a difference. The same is true for welfare cuts and labour market flexibilisation, which are always touted as required for maintaining competitiveness. In fact, and in spite of some welfare cuts and reforms, the corporatist miracle countries, particularly the Scandinavian ones, still feature a number of elements of a social alternative to the dominant liberal prescription for employment growth.
Editorial Reviews
Review
Employment “miracles” challenges the conventional wisdom that full employment and good overall economic performance is a function of a particular recipe of policies and institutions. To the extent that deliberate policies have played a role in recent success stories, they are embedded in nationally specific social, economic, and political institutions, which cannot be easily emulated. The book therefore offers a stern warning against the temptation, so rarely resisted, to draw sweeping generalizations from particular national “models.” But while there is no magic bullet, the book is optimistic about the capacity of countries with very different institutions to be successful in a fiercely competitive global economy. There is no necessary tradeoff between competitiveness and a large redistributive welfare state, and success is not synonymous with US-style deregulation. This is a point that is brought out in a nuanced and insightful fashion by the individual country chapters. Anyone interested in understanding the relationship between the economy, public policy, and economic performance is well-advised to read this important and timely new book. Torben Iversen Professor of Government Center for European Studies Harvard University
From the Inside Flap
Why did some economies experience a boom in the 1990s? Employment Miracles comparatively analyses select miracle economies. The contributors to the volume critically analyze how the small size and institutional structure of seven countries like the Netherlands, Denmark and Ireland accounted for their success and status as economic models. Comparisons with the American and German markets reveal how differing policies – liberal versus corporatist/social democratic – determine job growth and levels of income inequality and poverty. The book also stresses the explanatory relevance of lucky circumstances such as the housing price bubble. Employment Miracles is an important resource for political scientists and economists in their study of employment development.
From the Back Cover
Was de ‘miraculeuze’ ontwikkeling van de werkgelegenheid in de jaren ’90 en net na de eeuwwisseling in onder andere Australië, Nederland en Denemarken inderdaad een wonder, of lag hieraan een uitgekiende strategie ten grondslag? Meestal wordt de oorzaak gezocht in het economisch beleid en de loonmatiging zoals vastgelegd in cao’s, die een toenemend
About the Author
Uwe Becker is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Amsterdam and co-ordinator of an international research project on the socio-economic develop[1]ment of European corporatist countries.
Herman Schwartz is Professor of Political Science at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville and director of the Graduate Studies Department of Politics.
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