Five models of capitalism

Abstract

Besides analyzing capitalist societies historically and thinking of them in terms of phases or stages, we may compare different models or varieties of capitalism. In this paper I survey the literature on this subject, and distinguish the classification that has a production or business approach from those that use a mainly political criterion. I identify five forms of capitalism: among the rich countries, the liberal democratic or Anglo-Saxon model, the social or European model, and the endogenous social integration or Japanese model; among developing countries, I distinguish the Asian developmental model from the liberal-dependent model that characterizes most other developing countries, including Brazil.Keywords: capitalism; models; varieties of capitalism. JEL Classification: O-01; N-01.When we consider history in terms of stages, we unavoidably also consider it in terms of convergence. Each model of capitalism has a distinct way of organizing production at company level, gives a distinct role to the state, and has distinct institutions and basic values. But in all modern societies there is a popular demand for democracy -for political freedom and for the right to choose government leaders -and this demand always reflects the power of the bourgeoisie based on capital and the power of the professional class based on organization and knowledge. Democracy has always been a demand of the poor, which became historically possible when the economic surplus ceased to be appropriated by force and was appropriated by the market. The fear on the part of the rich of expropriation by the poor remained, but it waned as the universal suffrage that gradually prevailed in different countries did not lead to the election of revolutionary socialist politicians by the workers. The political system of the most developed countries tended to become democratic, which gave the working class and the middle class

Leaking legitimacies: the Finnish forest sector's entanglement in the land conflicts of Atlantic coastal Brazil

“…President Vargas, representing himself as a fazendeiro (Brazilian planter or cat-20 tleman) of Rio Grande do Sul, promoted domestic policy that did not threaten the existing land tenure system. (Frank, 1969, 8;Skidmore, 1999, 37-39, 131, 235; see also Bresser-Pereira, 2012). Contemporary Brazil has one of the most unequal landholding structures in the world.…”

Domestic structures, foreign economic policies and global economic order: Implications from the rise of large emerging economies

“…The two original models of ‘coordinated market economies’ (CMEs; as proposed for the Germany and Japan) and ‘liberal market economies’ (LMEs; as proposed for US and Great Britain) have recently been complemented by a third model of ‘dependent market economies’ (DMEs) (for economies in East Central Europe, see Nölke and Vliegenthart, 2009) 5 and models of state-led market economies (Boyer, 2005; Schmidt, 2009). We thus contribute to a CC/BRICs research programme that is currently burgeoning, not only in the OECD world, but also within emerging countries such as Brazil, India and South Africa (Becker, 2013a; Boschi and Santana, 2012; Bresser-Pereira, 2012; Condé and Delgado, 2009; Ebenau, 2012; Kennedy, 2011; Mazumdar, 2010; Musacchio and Lazzarini, 2012; Padayachee, 2013; Schmalz and Ebenau, 2012; Schneider, 2013; Witt and Redding, 2014; see also the special issue of DMS — Der Moderne Staat on state capitalism in large emerging countries (Ten Brink and Nölke, 2013)). In the context of this debate, our approach to the CC field integrates the VoC framework but goes beyond its LME–CME dichotomy (Amable, 2003; Coates, 2005; Jackson and Deeg, 2006).…”

Governmental Intervention and Its Impact on Growth, Economic Development, and Technology in OECD Countries

“…We used the PAC function to examine the proposed index for each country over the years. It appears that there are no cyclical patterns as were investigated by Bresser-Pereira [8]. Countries with a consistent policy of interventions, like Norway and Austria, have stable low PAC functions.…”

“…Bresser-Pereira [8] identifies three models of capitalist society in modern developed countries: (i) the liberal democratic model, (ii) the social model or welfare model, and (iii) the endogenous social integration model or Japanese model. He also discusses the developmental model and the liberal dependent model that appear in developing countries.…”