Background: The European financial crisis has affected most of the EU member states, and European institutions have had to create new financial instruments to counter the impact. Most effects in the economic and political spheres can be attributed to high unemployment and changes in governments in peripheral countries (Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Romania). Objectives: The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the economic and political effects of the European financial crisis in some peripheral countries that have implemented austerity policies. Methods/Approach: The methodology used is mixed: an analysis of the primary economic variables of the selected countries in comparison to those of countries with low-risk premium was performed, and the relation between the bailouts and elections was presented. Results: The exacerbation of the crisis in the Eurozone is mainly due to the high political costs of austerity measures and not the high level of public spending and/or the alternations in the governments of peripheral countries. Conclusions: The European financial crisis is primarily a result of weak economic governance, and its effects are differentiated. The peripheral countries possess the highest rates of unemployment, and there is a higher tendency towards political instability in rescued countries.

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The ways the firm solves coordination problems with the different stakeholders (or the varieties of capitalism of nations) affect economic performance. Institutional gearing is one of the main determinants of economic growth. Nevertheless, there are no studies that analyse the effect of varieties of capitalism on the relationship of institutional gearing and economic growth. The objective of the paper is to estimate the effect of the variety of capitalism on the relationship between the institutional gearing index and other macroeconomic control variables on the GDP per capita in a group of developed and developing countries. To do that 3 panel data models were estimated: one with fixed effects and two with random effects, for 31 countries for the period 2011-2015. We used 16 Coordinated Market Economies and Liberal Market Economies and 15 Hierarchical Market Economies. The results showed the varieties of capitalism affect the relationship between institutional gearing and economic growth. In the Coordinated Market Economies and Liberal Market Economies this effect is higher than in Hierarchical Market Economies. Governments of Hierarchical Market Economies should not only apply public policies to build functional institutions, but also encourage the positive complementarities among them.

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El enfoque sistémico de la innovación resalta la interrelación de los agentes e instituciones, sin embargo, no reconoce la complementariedad institucional. El presente trabajo tuvo como objetivo diseñar y evaluar un indicador del constructo de “engranaje institucional” como un elemento que reconoce el impacto que una institución tiene sobre otra en los procesos de innovación, así como examinar la relación existente entre el índice de engranaje institucional y el crecimiento económico. Se utilizó́ el método de regresión lineal, considerando el PIB per cápita de 17 países de América Latina en el periodo de 1980 a 2014. Se usaron variables como la tasa de actividades empresariales (TAE), que mide la población involucrada; el porcentaje de la TAE, que tiene un producto o servicio nuevo; gobierno efectivo, Estado de derecho, leyes estables; y vínculos entre universidad-empresa, siendo clasificados como productos e insumos. El diseño del indicador de engranaje institucional resultó adecuado para reconocer la complementariedad en las instituciones y su papel en los procesos de innovación, además de confirmar que los países en donde se tiene un mayor índice de engranaje institucional presentan un crecimiento económico superior. Los resultados muestran que los países latinoamericanos deben impulsar el engranaje institucional para fortalecer su sistema nacional de innovación, y así lograr un progreso económico sostenido, como el que presentan la mayoría de los países desarrollados (Unión Europea y los Estados Unidos).