Varieties of Capitalism and Social Inequality

Prereq: Permission of instructor

The course examines variation in the institutions of the political economy across the advanced capitalist economies. What institutional arrangements distinguish more “liberal” from more “coordinated” models of capitalism, and ‘liberal’ from ‘conservative’ or ‘social democratic’ welfare regimes? We examine the frameworks scholars have devised to capture these differences and explore the implications of this diversity. We examine efforts to explain changes in income inequality over time and space. On the basis of insights from history and the contemporary political analysis, we ask what globalization, the growth of the service sector and rise of a new knowledge economy imply for the distribution of well-being and the survival of the institutions supporting egalitarian economic outcomes.