By combining breadth, depth, and methodological rigor, the book offers essential insights into the forces shaping economic liberalization in contemporary democracies.
Liberalizing the Economy? is a major contribution to our knowledge about modern-day capitalist democracies. It offers a wide-ranging perspective on the trajectory and causes of the massive transformations that have shaped society over the past 40 years.
Liberalizing the Economy? provides a landmark comparative account of how government intervention has been transformed across advanced democracies since the 1980s.
The mixed economies of advanced democracies have undergone a substantial transformation since the 1980s, resulting in a large reduction of government intervention. This book is the first to comprehensively analyze this development.
Comparing five policy instruments – corporate taxation, total public expenditure, product market regulation, industrial subsidies, state-ownership of enterprises, and an aggregate index – in 21 countries, the book examines how far the liberalization of mixed economies in established democracies has gone, and what caused it. It finds that globalization and the diffusion of policies were most relevant for the transformation of economic intervention, whilst European integration and socio-economic changes played less important roles. Despite the overall trend toward liberalization, domestic politics in the form of partisan control of the government also remains important.
The book is of interest to scholars and students of comparative and international political economy, comparative public policy, and comparative politics, as well as economists and journalists who want to better understand the politics of economic liberalization over the last four decades.
Reimut Zohlnhöfer is Professor of Political Science at Heidelberg University, Germany.
Fabian Engler is Researcher and Lecturer at Heidelberg University, Germany.
Jan Jathe is Research Associate and Lecturer at Heidelberg University, Germany.
The mixed economies of advanced democracies have undergone a substantial transformation since the 1980s, resulting in a large reduction of government intervention. This book is the first to comprehensively analyze this development.
Comparing five policy instruments – corporate taxation, total public expenditure, product market regulation, industrial subsidies, state-ownership of enterprises, and an aggregate index – in 21 countries, the book examines how far the liberalization of mixed economies in established democracies has gone, and what caused it. It finds that globalization and the diffusion of policies were most relevant for the transformation of economic intervention, whilst European integration and socio-economic changes played less important roles. Despite the overall trend toward liberalization, domestic politics in the form of partisan control of the government also remains important.
The book is of interest to scholars and students of comparative and international political economy, comparative public policy, and comparative politics, as well as economists and journalists who want to better understand the politics of economic liberalization over the last four decades.
Reimut Zohlnhöfer
economic policy policy diffusion European integration privatization government intervention liberalization
“This book offers the most comprehensive comparative analysis to date of the transformation of government intervention in the economy. Covering more than 20 advanced democracies, it provides an unparalleled cross-national perspective on the evolution of economic policy since the 1980s. What sets this volume apart is its systematic analysis of a wide range of public policy instruments brought together in a coherent analytical framework. By combining breadth, depth, and methodological rigor, the book offers essential insights into the forces shaping economic liberalization in contemporary democracies.” (Beatriz Cuadrado-Ballesteros, Professor, Department of Administration and Business Economics, University of Salamanca, Spain)
“Liberalizing the Economy? is a major contribution to our knowledge about modern-day capitalist democracies. It offers a wide-ranging perspective on the trajectory and causes of the massive transformations that have shaped society over the past 40 years. The book offers surprising insights to both experts and newcomers to the field of comparative political economy.” (Carsten Jensen, Professor, Department of Political Science, Aarhus University, Denmark)
“Liberalizing the Economy? provides a landmark comparative account of how government intervention has been transformed across advanced democracies since the 1980s. Based on original data from 21 long-established OECD countries, the book systematically traces change across five central policy instruments—corporate taxation, public expenditure, product market regulation, industrial subsidies, and state ownership—and introduces an innovative aggregate index to capture governments’ overall interventionist profile. Combining clear descriptive mapping with rigorous explanatory analysis, it demonstrates the pivotal roles of globalization and policy diffusion while offering a nuanced reassessment of European integration and domestic socio-economic pressures. The book also shows that partisan politics continues to shape trajectories of economic intervention.” (Carina Schmitt, Professor, University of Bamberg, Germany)