Thomas Paster is a research fellow at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies (MPIfG) in Cologne, Germany.

"This new, excellent book by Thomas Paster is a timely contribution to this debate as it explores the presence of variability in the preferences of German employers for social policies. Looking at the behavior of peak associations of industrial employers since Bismarck, Paster illustrates how the particular sets of institutional arrangements that characterize the modern German economy are in fact the outcome of political conflicts."- Michel Goyer, University of Birmingham

• 1. Introduction 2. Theory: Economic Interests and Political Constraints 3. The Origins of Employers’ Associations: Coordinating against Organized Labor 4. Bismarck’s Social Reforms: Employers and Social Pacification 5. World War I and Its Consequences: Class Collaboration in Exceptional Times 6. Business and the Origins of Unemployment Insurance: Protecting Work Incentives 7. Business after World War II: The "Social Market Economy" 8. Post-War Social Policy Reforms: Containing Welfare Expansion 9. Codetermination: Employers against Economic Democracy 10. Employers and the German Model Today 11. Conclusions: How Employers Shaped the Welfare State

Thomas Paster is a research fellow at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies (MPIfG) in Cologne, Germany.

"This new, excellent book by Thomas Paster is a timely contribution to this debate as it explores the presence of variability in the preferences of German employers for social policies. Looking at the behavior of peak associations of industrial employers since Bismarck, Paster illustrates how the particular sets of institutional arrangements that characterize the modern German economy are in fact the outcome of political conflicts."- Michel Goyer, University of Birmingham

• 1. Introduction 2. Theory: Economic Interests and Political Constraints 3. The Origins of Employers’ Associations: Coordinating against Organized Labor 4. Bismarck’s Social Reforms: Employers and Social Pacification 5. World War I and Its Consequences: Class Collaboration in Exceptional Times 6. Business and the Origins of Unemployment Insurance: Protecting Work Incentives 7. Business after World War II: The "Social Market Economy" 8. Post-War Social Policy Reforms: Containing Welfare Expansion 9. Codetermination: Employers against Economic Democracy 10. Employers and the German Model Today 11. Conclusions: How Employers Shaped the Welfare State

Thomas Paster is a research fellow at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies (MPIfG) in Cologne, Germany.

"This new, excellent book by Thomas Paster is a timely contribution to this debate as it explores the presence of variability in the preferences of German employers for social policies. Looking at the behavior of peak associations of industrial employers since Bismarck, Paster illustrates how the particular sets of institutional arrangements that characterize the modern German economy are in fact the outcome of political conflicts."- Michel Goyer, University of Birmingham

• 1. Introduction 2. Theory: Economic Interests and Political Constraints 3. The Origins of Employers’ Associations: Coordinating against Organized Labor 4. Bismarck’s Social Reforms: Employers and Social Pacification 5. World War I and Its Consequences: Class Collaboration in Exceptional Times 6. Business and the Origins of Unemployment Insurance: Protecting Work Incentives 7. Business after World War II: The "Social Market Economy" 8. Post-War Social Policy Reforms: Containing Welfare Expansion 9. Codetermination: Employers against Economic Democracy 10. Employers and the German Model Today 11. Conclusions: How Employers Shaped the Welfare State