New Tools and New Tests in Comparative Political Economy


Book Description

"Some say that democracy is more likely to survive under parliamentary governments. That result is not robust to the use of different variables from the Database of Political Institutions, a large new cross-country database that may illuminate many other issues affecting and affected by political institutions"--Cover.




New Tools and New Tests in Comparative Political Economy


Book Description

Some say that democracy is more likely to survive under parliamentary governments. That result is not robust to the use of different variables from the Database of Political Institutions, a large new cross-country database that may illuminate many other issues affecting and affected by political institutions.This paper introduces a large new cross-country database on political institutions: The Database on Political Institutions (DPI). Beck, Clarke, Groff, Keefer, and Walsh summarize key variables (many of them new), compare this data set with others, and explore the range of issues for which the data should prove invaluable. Among the novel variables they introduce:Several measures of tenure, stability, and checks and balances.Identification of parties with the government coalition or the opposition.Fragmentation of opposition and government parties in legislatures.The authors illustrate the application of DPI variables to several problems in political economy. Stepan and Skach, for example, find that democracy is more likely to survive under parliamentary governments than presidential systems. But this result is not robust to the use of different variables from the DPI, which raises puzzles for future research.Similarly, Roubini and Sachs find that divided governments in the OECD run higher budget deficits after fiscal shocks. Replication of their work using DPI indicators of divided government indicates otherwise, again suggesting issues for future research.Among questions in political science and economics that this database may illuminate: The determinants of democratic consolidation, the political conditions for economic reform, the political and institutional roots of corruption, and the elements of appropriate and institutionally sensitive design of economic policy.This paper - a product of Regulation and Competition Policy, Development Research Group - is part of a larger effort in the group to understand the institutional bases of poverty alleviation and economic reform. The study was funded by the Bank's Research Support Budget under the research project Database on Institutions for Government Decisionmaking (RPO 682-79).










New Directions In Comparative Politics


Book Description

As ?must? reading for anyone interested in comparative politics, this text is designed to address the theoretical developments and approaches important to the comparative study of political systems today. These include: developmentalism, dependency theory, corporatism, state society relations, political economy, public policy analysis, indigenous theories of change, rational choice, and the new institutionalism. This text sees the new diversity of approaches as healthy and invigorating. The diversity in comparative politics over the past two decades has been reflected in prior editions of this book. Whereas these separate approaches once may have been regarded as fragmentary, now scholars have come to regard the diverse lines of inquiry as lending complimentary tools of analysis to our complex modern world. The emerging methods of comparative study often provide ?causeways? between previous ?islands of theory.? In this new edition, all the main approaches to comparative politics are represented in chapter length treatment. Several contributors revisit the topics they addressed in the prior editions, e.g. Tony Smith on dependency analysis, Lawrence Graham on public policy, and Joel Migdal on state-society relations. Most significantly, the third edition introduces readers to new, provocative analyses such as Paul Adams on corporatism, Anthony Gill on political economy; Ronald Inglehart on political culture; Gerardo Munck on rational choice, A. H. Somjee on indigenous theory, and Frank L. Wilson on the new institutionalism. Introductory and concluding essays by editor Howard J. Wiarda integrate the book, placing the different approaches in perspective.




Comparative Political Economy


Book Description

This is a book about how 21st-century capitalism really works. Modern economics strips away social, historical, and political context from analysis of 'the economic', but the economy is far too important to leave exclusively to the economists. Comparative Political Economy (CPE) is a much broader, richer intellectual undertaking which 're-embeds' the analysis of the economic within the social and political realm. This is at the heart of how to think like a political economist. This text maps the terrain and evolution of CPE, providing the analytical tools to explore the many variants of capitalism, unearthing their roots in competing visions of the desirable distribution of the fruits of growth. Connecting CPE systematically to the subfield of International Political Economy (IPE), the book explains how these visions generate ongoing political struggles over how to regulate and manage capitalism. This is the perfect introduction to the field for all students of CPE and IPE. New to this Edition: - Fully revised and updated throughout to take into account the latest empirical and theoretical developments in this fast-moving field - A brand New chapter on the political economy of inequality, populism, Trump & Brexit - New expanded 'how to use this book' aimed at student readers - More coverage of the types of economies covered, to move from an exclusively Western focus to cover developing and emerging global economies




Comparative Political Economy


Book Description

This is a book about how 21st-century capitalism really works. Modern economics strips away social, historical, and political context from analysis of 'the economic', but the economy is far too important to leave exclusively to the economists. Comparative Political Economy (CPE) is a much broader, richer intellectual undertaking which 're-embeds' the analysis of the economic within the social and political realm. This is at the heart of how to think like a political economist. This text maps the terrain and evolution of CPE, providing the analytical tools to explore the many variants of capitalism, unearthing their roots in competing visions of the desirable distribution of the fruits of growth. Connecting CPE systematically to the subfield of International Political Economy (IPE), the book explains how these visions generate ongoing political struggles over how to regulate and manage capitalism. This is the perfect introduction to the field for all students of CPE and IPE. New to this Edition: - Fully revised and updated throughout to take into account the latest empirical and theoretical developments in this fast-moving field - A brand New chapter on the political economy of inequality, populism, Trump & Brexit - New expanded 'how to use this book' aimed at student readers - More coverage of the types of economies covered, to move from an exclusively Western focus to cover developing and emerging global economies




The Oxford Handbook of Political Economy


Book Description

Over its lifetime, 'political economy' has had different meanings. This handbook views political economy as a synthesis of the various strands of social science, treating it as the methodology of economics applied to the analysis of political behaviour and institutions.




Comparative Political Economy of East and South Asia


Book Description

In this study of the Comparative Political Economy of East and South Asia, the author adopts an interdisciplinary perspective on Third World development, thus recognising the importance of the interrelationships between the economy and the society and emphasising the need to direct attention to political, institutional and historical factors.




Comparative Political Economy


Book Description

This new and comprehensive volume covering the subfield of comparative political economy provides a detailed overview over its intellectual roots, clarifies its contents, and introduces the readers to key debates while identifying new and exciting avenues for future research. Ideas, interests, and institutions have traditionally been the main focus points of this field, but the volume argues that culture provides an additional and often neglected area, providing the 'glue' that keeps national models of capitalism hanging together. The volume also develops pathways beyond the varieties of capitalism paradigm. Building on a thorough and rigorous review of comparative capitalisms and a synthesis of the research strands that have built the bedrock of this subfield, Comparative Political Economy explores the individual components of national models of capitalism and argues that these elements deserve closer scrutiny. Their permutations have been considerable over the past thirty years, and their study permits valuable insights both empirically and theoretically. The empirical coverage of the book includes chapters covering industrial relations, labour markets, systems of education and training, finance, welfare state, and debt. In the conclusion, research pathways forward are identified and the impact of energy security issues and environmental factors on the study of comparative capitalisms will be assessed.