Abstract
In this study I compare types of industrial capitalism with a view to identifying both convergence and divergence between countries. Having taken the position in earlier chapters of this study that a country’s economy relies on the relationship between business and state, I establish that private enterprise, the basis of industrial capitalism, varies depending on how such businesses respond to government policies. The debate on the role of the state in the economy has, in recent times, led to distinctive divisions or patterns. The Anglo-American approach, generally identified with the neoliberal position, views markets as efficient and advocates a minimal role for the state in the economy, while the German or Japanese approach advocates a balanced approach where state and market work in cooperation. Both sets of countries are essentially capitalist with a democratic political system within which the market remains the basis for economic exchange. The difference however lies in their view of the state in the economy. While the former envisages a minimal role for the state encouraging competition as the only way for economic survival of individual enterprises, the latter favours an active role for the state encouraging greater cooperation between state and economy.
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© 2002 R. C. Mascarenhas
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Mascarenhas, R.C. (2002). German Capitalism: The Social Market Model. In: A Comparative Political Economy of Industrial Capitalism. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230597808_9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230597808_9
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