Popular media and politicians have often blamed the high public debt of some EU countries on cultural differences. These claims are most apparent in the discourse contrasting ostensibly prudent... Show morePopular media and politicians have often blamed the high public debt of some EU countries on cultural differences. These claims are most apparent in the discourse contrasting ostensibly prudent Northern Europeans with spendthrift Southern Europeans. Despite the prominence of these and similar narratives and evidence that culture plays a nontrivial role in other economic outcomes, there is no systematic evidence that culture influences attitudes towards sovereign debt in the EU. We provide the first empirical test of this claim using over 233,000 responses to a Eurobarometer question about the salience of national debt. Our analysis reveals that national and sub-national differences explain very little of the variance in debt preferences. Further, the differences that do emerge do not fit existing cultural narratives. Additional analysis reveals that established measures of national culture or religious observance, at the national and regional levels, do not correlate with debt attitudes as cultural arguments would predict. Show less
What constitutes the political economy of agrarian transformation in post-socialist Tajikistan? How and to what extent does capital accumulation in the agrarian economy occur? These are the... Show moreWhat constitutes the political economy of agrarian transformation in post-socialist Tajikistan? How and to what extent does capital accumulation in the agrarian economy occur? These are the principal questions of this thesis, which is inspired by neo-Marxist theories on rural capital accumulation and extraction. Theoretically this thesis addresses property rights, the anthropology of debt, and the logic of cotton production in order to understand the continuity in agrarian production relations. Innovative in terms of its analyses, this thesis firstly not only focuses on domestic state-society relations, but also on the way in which foreign actors interact with the state. Secondly, unlike most studies informed by agrarian political economy that tend to pay little attention to nature and geography, this thesis explicitly looks at the way in which altitude, remoteness and crop specificities interact with the political economy. This thesis contends that sheer access to arable land in Tajikistan alone is no guarantee for rural well-being. Furthermore, this thesis maintains that Tajikistan’s pathway of agrarian change is characterised by a strong continuation in terms of relations of production. Rural dwellers continue to be tied to the land and are unable to build up an independent rural livelihood. Show less
This PhD-thesis analyses the relationship between the parties’ choices in the CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis’ assessments of the election manifestos and coalition agreements... Show moreThis PhD-thesis analyses the relationship between the parties’ choices in the CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis’ assessments of the election manifestos and coalition agreements over the period 1986-2017, and tries to explain this relationship. First, the theoretical framework is set out, in which agenda-setting, political economy and civil service influence have prominent positions, followed by a description of the political rationality and the civil service rationality. Then, multiple reflections are made on the history of the assessments and their (dis)advantages for both the Dutch politicians and the civil service. Second, the empirical analysis of the parties’ choices with regard to government expenditures, tax burdens, purchasing power and macroeconomic outcomes in election manifestos and coalition agreements is carried out. It appears that for the majority of parties’ choices, negotiators in the formation decide in line with their manifestos. But there are also clear deviations. In general; government expenditures turn out higher, except the expenditures on education. Tax burdens end up higher, but foremost for households while companies receive tax reliefs. The purchasing power of high incomes and middle incomes falls behind, in contrast to the purchasing power of social security beneficiaries and low incomes which end up better. Show less
This study discusses the transformation from a colonial into a national economy in Indonesia and Vietnam. It focuses on two intertwined processes of economic decolonization and reconstruction in... Show moreThis study discusses the transformation from a colonial into a national economy in Indonesia and Vietnam. It focuses on two intertwined processes of economic decolonization and reconstruction in the two countries after the Second World War, paying special attention to political and institutional factors involved in these processes. The study demonstrates that, although differences in the political situations resulted in the adoption of divergent strategies, Indonesia and Vietnam were in fact pursuing similar long-term goals, namely: attaining a national independent economy. The Indonesian government was determined to get rid of the economic legacy of Dutch colonialism by placing the whole economy under the strong state control and ownership, in accordance with the spirit of Guided Democracy and Guided Economy in the late 1950s and the early 1960s. This effort resembled much the socialist transformation of North Vietnam in the 1950s and the various means by which the government of South Vietnam concentrated economic power in its hands during the late 1950s and the early 1960s. Show less
Hardie, I.; Howarth, D.; Maxfield, S.; Verdun, A. 2013
In this introductory chapter we first review the standard bank–credit/capital markets dichotomy used to describe national financial systems. We examine the influence of this dichotomy in the... Show moreIn this introductory chapter we first review the standard bank–credit/capital markets dichotomy used to describe national financial systems. We examine the influence of this dichotomy in the comparative political economy (CPE) literature, which is the disciplinary focus of most of the contributors to this volume. We explain how effectively scholars of the political economy of finance explain the phenomenon of change and then briefly describe the market-based banking model in the context of the broader national financial systems. In the penultimate section, we consider the impact of market-based banking on the domestic political economy and the impact of the international financial crisis. Show less
Social convergence has been an objective since the Treaty of Rome in 1957, but it was only in 1997 and 2000 that social and labour market policies were formulated at the European Union level. To... Show moreSocial convergence has been an objective since the Treaty of Rome in 1957, but it was only in 1997 and 2000 that social and labour market policies were formulated at the European Union level. To what extent have national social and labour market policies in EU member states converged over time? What is the influence of EU policy initiatives and European economic integration on national welfare state reforms? Based on quantitative analyses of welfare state changes since the 1980s in EU and other OECD countries, this study provides a number of new insights into the research on the Europeanisation of welfare states. A wide range of indicators shows that welfare state policies have converged across EU countries. Furthermore, the study sheds light on the functioning of the open method of coordination in employment policy. It shows that the European Employment Strategy has contributed to an increased emphasis on activation in national labour market policy reforms. The study’s results indicate that European economic integration and globalisation have also affected welfare states. The insights gained in this study could improve the effectiveness of the EU social and labour market policies and, consequently, achievement of the goals of the Europe 2020 strategy. Show less
This study is an attempt to understand the political and economic dynamics of eighteenth-century Gujarat. The aspects of the interpenetration of trade and politics and the complex nature of... Show moreThis study is an attempt to understand the political and economic dynamics of eighteenth-century Gujarat. The aspects of the interpenetration of trade and politics and the complex nature of relationship among rulers, merchants and producers have been analysed mainly on the basis of information culled from the archives of the Dutch and the English East India Companies. The study underscores the distinct nature of the political economy of Gujarat and compares and contrasts it with those of other regions especially Bengal and southern India Show less
As international newspaper headlines increasingly focus on energy and security issues, one could almost forget that the main ties that bind states and regions of the world together are trade and... Show moreAs international newspaper headlines increasingly focus on energy and security issues, one could almost forget that the main ties that bind states and regions of the world together are trade and economic relations. Show less
