Institutional competitiveness in the global economy: Denmark,the United States,and the varieties of capitalism

Despite high taxes, a large welfare state, and much economic regulation, Denmark competes successfully against other advanced capitalist economies. Denmark’s success is based in large part on its institutional competitiveness – its capacity to achieve socioeconomic success as a result of the competitive advantages that firms derive from operating within a particular set of institutions. The institutional basis for successfully coordinating labor markets and vocational training programs are examined for Denmark and the US – two countries that were very different institutionally but very successful in the 1990s and in the 2000s. We show that there is no one best way to achieve success in today’s global economy, except with respect to social inequality; that the mechanisms underlying institutional competitiveness are more complex than often recognized; that institutional hybrids can be as successful as purer political economic cases; and that high taxes and state spending can enhance socioeconomic performance. As such, this paper challenges both neoliberalism and the varieties of capitalism school of comparative political economy.     

Contemporary challenges to the German vocational training system

The German vocational training system has played a central role in sustaining the competitive strength of German manufacturing. This article provides an analysis of contemporary developments in this system to assess its likely future trajectory. I begin by underscoring the differences and similarities of the German system to alternative arrangements that have emerged in other countries. I then turn to recent trends in Germany that have caused concern among policy‐makers about the continued strength and viability of the vocational training system. I discuss reforms undertaken in the past few years that point to incremental, though possibly transformative, changes in the system designed to reduce costs and increase flexibility through renegotiations on two fronts: between general training standards and firm needs and training practices, and between the in‐plant and school‐based components of training.     

The social order of Chinese capitalism: socio-economic uncertainty,communist party rule and economic development, 1990–2000

China's financially repressed economy remains characterized by a distinctly resilient political structure (the Chinese Communist Party, CCP) that penetrates both increasingly rational ‘private’ (market) and ‘public’ (state) organizations. How are we to understand the financial system's role in this persistently illiberal yet marketizing political economy? This paper develops a theory of China's financial reform as the management of socio-economic uncertainty by the CCP. Since the early 1990s, the financial system has formed a locus of the CCP's capacity both to manage and to propagate socio-economic uncertainty through the path of reform. The unique path of financial reform in China should thus not be viewed solely in terms of ‘partial’ or ‘failed’ free-market reform, but rather as the product of a more concerted vision of how the financial system enabled a mode of economic growth that combined the drive for accumulation of capital with the distinctive legacies of China's post-1989 socio-political circumstances.     

In the Tracks of Imperialism

Abstract

Imperialism is subject to a seemingly ever-extending conceptual elasticity. The primary concern of this article is with the adequacy of the concept of imperialism for Marxism. It is contended that a proper understanding of the concept derives from Marxian economic analysis of capitalism. Not from oblique notions of asymmetric power of states within the international order.     

A Bonfire of the Regulations,or Business as Usual? The UK Labour Market and the Political Economy of Brexit

Employment and labour market regulation initially appeared as one of the solid red lines in the UK's renegotiation of the country's place in the EU. The basic argument is that the UK's more deregulated labour market would sit uneasily in the more organised models, based on statutory instruments or collective bargaining, found on the continent. While there is a legitimate problem here, EU employment regulations appear manageable from the point of view of business, while unions see them as important tools for socially responsible economic restructuring. Most of UK employment case law is now deeply entangled with EU law; labour market regulations have, on the whole, become part of the way of doing business in the Single Market; and a simple cost–benefit analysis appears impossible because some costs are not quantifiable and the costs of others are reduced when taken as a bundle. Labour unions agree that transposition of European law needs to be done taking into account local sensitivities, while internationally oriented companies do not see EU regulations on the whole as detrimental to business. Importantly, though, the costs and benefits of EU employment regulations are not symmetrically distributed across different companies: large companies are better able to reap the rewards and accommodate the costs of operating in the Single Market than smaller companies.     

我国并没有跨越“卡夫丁峡谷”

文章通过马克思原本意义上的晚年设想与中国革命和社会发展的对比,结合对马克思社会发展理论的扼要分析,指出:中国社会主义制度的建立并非跨越"卡夫丁峡谷"的表现.     

当代资本主义世界体系论要

二战结束后的资本主义世界体系,是全球范围的资本主义一系列历史发展阶段的产物。较之战前它显示出诸多变化：国外直接投资成为重要纽带,行为主体由国家拓展至国家集团和跨国公司,国际组织的干预和协调得到加强,新科技革命强化了各国之间的联系,一些国家在对等的条件下限制了本国主权。就其特点来说,资本主义世界体系内部始终存在的发展模式不统一、发展水平不平衡、经济关系不平等在战后表现得更加突出。用列宁的有关理论审视当代资本主义体系,资本主义制度的内在矛盾没有变,一些国家仍然靠控制和剥削他国人民获得超额利润,由此而来的帝国主义主要矛盾仍然存在。     

坚持中国特色社会主义的理论逻辑与实践原则

中国特色社会主义的理论逻辑与实践原则是邓小平理论奠定的。在学习研究和应用邓小平理论时,应坚持辩证法的全面性。邓小平关于解放思想就是实事求是的论断,是以尊重客观规律和客观条件为前提的。他在关系中国改革发展的大局时,从来都强调要问姓＂资＂姓＂社＂,他决不反对问姓＂资＂姓＂社＂,而反对混淆姓＂资＂姓＂社＂。他强调社会主义的根本原则是坚持公有制,坚决反对私有化。他明确指出,计划与市场都是发展经济的手段,两者都得要。他极为关注社会主义公平,强调社会主义就是要共同富裕,对分配不公导致两极分化,忧心忡忡。     

资本主义全球化与现代化的悖论

作为当代世界社会发展的两个明显趋势的全球化和现代化成为社会关注的热点,学界和社会实践中常把两者混同为一个历史趋势。研究发现,以资本为核心动力系统驱动的全球化包括资本主义全球化和社会主义全球化两类,其中资本主义全球化由于率先启动和强劲发展势头而使近现代社会发展的全球化主要呈现为资本主义的全球化。无论从历史发展的事实还是理论的角度来看,由资本主义主导的近现代历史发展的全球化都严重阻碍着人类现代化的实现,真正推动人类社会实现全球化——世界历史化也即现代化转型的力量则来自于社会主义的出现和发展。     

Technology and Global Capitalism in Don DeLillo's Fictions

In Underworld and Cosmopolis, Don DeLillo has depicted the interaction between technology and global capitalism. It is through technology that global capitalism abuses its power. The hegemony of global capitalism is criticized due to its instrumental ethics of technology in DeLillo's fictions. On the other hand, DeLillo has constructed a counter-narrative to the hegemony of global capitalism by developing a sense of justice for technological ethics with a promotion of an aesthetic and moral dimension for technology.