Christoph Scherrer - Böcker

The Elgar Companion to Decent Work and the Sustainable Development Goals is an essential reference for understanding the role of the International Labour Organization (ILO) and its promotion of fair conditions, rights at work and employment opportunities for all. Bringing together contributions from over 60 leading labour scholars, this Companion critically investigates the ILO’s Decent Work Agenda and how it links to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. Chapters look ahead to the future of labour trends and address a range of perspectives, including viewpoints from political science, economics, sociology and law. A comprehensive analysis of the decent work deficit is provided, along with an examination of the global labour market. Ultimately, the Companion discusses pressing issues such as ecological crises and the growing effect of the gig economy and automation on the changing nature of work, addressing the gap between aspirations and the reality of the global labour market. This prescient Companion is vital for students and scholars of labour studies, economics, international relations and law. Offering an important overview of the history of the Decent Work Agenda, it is also beneficial to practitioners and policy advocates.

The recent financial crisis exposed both a naïve faith in mathematical models to manage risk and a crude culture of greed that embraces risk. This book explores cultures of finance in sites such as corporate governance, hedge funds, central banks, the City of London and Wall Street, and small and medium enterprises. It uses different methods to explore these cultures and their interaction with different financial orders to improve our understanding of financial crisis dynamics.The introduction identifies types of cultural turn in studies of finance. Part I outlines relevant research methods, including comparison of national cultures viewed as independent variables, cultural political economy, and critical discourse and narrative policy analysis. Part II examines different institutional cultures of finance and the cult of entrepreneurship. Part III offers historical, comparative, and contemporary analyses of financial regimes and their significance for crisis dynamics. Part IV explores organizational cultures, modes of calculation, and financial practices and how they shape economic performance and guide crisis management. Part V considers crisis construals and responses in the European Union and China.This book’s great strength is its multi-faceted approach to cultures of finance. Contributors deploy the cultural turn creatively to enhance comparative and historical analysis of financial regimes, institutions, organizations, and practices as well as their roles in crisis generation, construal, and management. Developing different paradigms and methods and elaborating diverse case studies, the authors illustrate not only how and why ‘culture matters’ but also how its significance is shaped by different financial regimes and contexts.

Economic inequality has recently gained considerable academic attention. However, two important aspects of inequality have not been discussed systematically: its multidimensional nature and the question of what can be done to reverse it. This book offers insights from scholars representing the Global Labour University, which operates in Brazil, Germany, India, South Africa and the US. They analyse the various drivers of inequality, assess policy responses, and discuss counterstrategies. The main findings of this book are that rising levels of inequality cannot be addressed only with the standard policies responses, namely education, redistribution and ‘green growth’. In addition, the way markets currently function needs to be corrected. The chapters in this volume focus on specific fields of contemporary capitalism where important drivers of inequality are located, for example, the labour market; the financial system; the tax system; multi-national corporations; and gender relations. Other chapters discuss in detail where political opportunities for change lie. They critically assess existing countermeasures; the idea of a ‘green economy’ and its implications for inequality; and existing campaigns by trade unions and new social movements against inequality. In line with the global nature of the problem, this book contains case studies on countries both from the north and south with considerable economic and political weight. This book provides academics, political practitioners and civil society activists with a range of ideas on how to drive back inequality. It will be of interest to those who study political economy, development economy and labour economics.

The recent financial crisis exposed both a naïve faith in mathematical models to manage risk and a crude culture of greed that embraces risk. This book explores cultures of finance in sites such as corporate governance, hedge funds, central banks, the City of London and Wall Street, and small and medium enterprises. It uses different methods to explore these cultures and their interaction with different financial orders to improve our understanding of financial crisis dynamics.The introduction identifies types of cultural turn in studies of finance. Part I outlines relevant research methods, including comparison of national cultures viewed as independent variables, cultural political economy, and critical discourse and narrative policy analysis. Part II examines different institutional cultures of finance and the cult of entrepreneurship. Part III offers historical, comparative, and contemporary analyses of financial regimes and their significance for crisis dynamics. Part IV explores organizational cultures, modes of calculation, and financial practices and how they shape economic performance and guide crisis management. Part V considers crisis construals and responses in the European Union and China.This book’s great strength is its multi-faceted approach to cultures of finance. Contributors deploy the cultural turn creatively to enhance comparative and historical analysis of financial regimes, institutions, organizations, and practices as well as their roles in crisis generation, construal, and management. Developing different paradigms and methods and elaborating diverse case studies, the authors illustrate not only how and why ‘culture matters’ but also how its significance is shaped by different financial regimes and contexts.

Economic inequality has recently gained considerable academic attention. However, two important aspects of inequality have not been discussed systematically: its multidimensional nature and the question of what can be done to reverse it. This book offers insights from scholars representing the Global Labour University, which operates in Brazil, Germany, India, South Africa and the US. They analyse the various drivers of inequality, assess policy responses, and discuss counterstrategies. The main findings of this book are that rising levels of inequality cannot be addressed only with the standard policies responses, namely education, redistribution and ‘green growth’. In addition, the way markets currently function needs to be corrected. The chapters in this volume focus on specific fields of contemporary capitalism where important drivers of inequality are located, for example, the labour market; the financial system; the tax system; multi-national corporations; and gender relations. Other chapters discuss in detail where political opportunities for change lie. They critically assess existing countermeasures; the idea of a ‘green economy’ and its implications for inequality; and existing campaigns by trade unions and new social movements against inequality. In line with the global nature of the problem, this book contains case studies on countries both from the north and south with considerable economic and political weight. This book provides academics, political practitioners and civil society activists with a range of ideas on how to drive back inequality. It will be of interest to those who study political economy, development economy and labour economics.

society, and state (Streeck, 1999; Simonis, 1998). Interspersed between these most commonly named elements are the following: First, the high political integrating force of the German Model after WWII was based on the adoption and transformation of corporatist political structures from National Socialist Germany. Liberal capitalism was (re)introduced under political competition between Christian Democrats and Social Democrats, who eventually found common ground in the politically mediated compromise between capital and labor: “This compromise was negotiated and institutionalized at a time when the communist wing of the workers movement and the authoritarian voices of German capital – for various reasons – were excluded from political participation” (Streeck, 1999, p. 15; translation: SB). The partnership between firms and unions manifested itself in manifold institutional structures. Apart from the social partners’ autonomy in matters of wage policy, worker codetermination at plant level and in operations is regarded as one of the special achievements of the German Model and has contributed substantially to social peace. The political coordination forms of concerted action, round tables, as well as modernization and crisis cartels gave birth to a highly complex political decision-making structure which, based on a federalist setup, has rightly been called “negotiation state” (Esser, 1998, p. 123). Second, the material foundation of this “Social Democratic class compromise” (Buci-Glucksmann & Therborn, 1981) consisted in the Federal Republic’s – in the words of Göste Esping-Andersen – “conservative-liberal” form of welfare state.

The German economic and social system was once admired for its capacity to foster international competitiveness as well as social integration. In the literature on varieties of capitalisms it was even called the Modell Deutschland. But in the last years, plagued by mass unemployment and lagging behind in terms of economic growth, many commentators portrayed it as institutionally incrusted and hopelessly outmoded. However, the basic institutions underpinning the German model are currently undergoing significant changes. The Red--Green reforms of the labor market and the pension scheme, recent incidents like the take-over of German Mannesmann by Vodafone Airtouch, for example, or the evasion of collective bargaining agreements can be interpreted as significant attacks on the corporatist structure of the model. Thus, does the future imply a (more) liberal, market-style economy also in Germany? And if so, will this transformation solve the problem of mass unemployment? Surviving Globalization? explores the future of the German economy within the institutional and societal framework of Modell Deutschland.The contributing authors scrutinize important economic trends, institutional changes and governmental reforms, ranging from corporate governance and industrial relations to macroeconomic policies, and from the welfare state to European integration. They assess the theoretical perspectives informing the current reforms and raise questions about the feasibility of institutional transfer. Thus, Surviving Globalization? provides a comprehensive and empirically profound introduction to the distinctive features of the German economic model in the light of globalization, European integration, and German unification. In contrast to common notions about the German economy, it identifies not institutional rigidities but the macroeconomic exhaustion of Germany's long standing mercantilism, its constant attempt to achieve current account surpluses, and the specific way of integrating East-Germany as major causes for its job crisis.

Are public banks a better alternative to private banks? Do they provide sufficient finance for development? Do they serve as stability anchors in financial markets? This is an invaluable comparison of public banks from countries at different economic development levels. The contributors highlight both the benefits of public banks and their governance failures, overcoming the sterile debate of private versus public.Empirically analyzing three countries with significant public banks - Brazil, Germany and India – contributors support the Keynesian argument that public banks can contribute to employment by stabilizing the business cycle and by providing finance on a long-term basis. Taking cues from critical interpretative policy analysis, it is argued that neither changes in the incentive structure of management, nor institutional fora for public deliberations will prevent irresponsible behavior. Management’s perception of the mission of public banks has to change, as well as its understanding of their role in society.Public Banks in the Age of Financialization will give insight to advanced students of finance, comparative politics and public management. Policy experts and public bank managers will also benefit from the in-depth case studies that provoke discussion on both the positives and negatives of public banks.Contributors include: O. Butzbach, P. Chavan, S. Deos, M. Dieterle, K. Mettenheim, A. Nunes Ferreira, X. Polikhronidi, M. Rajeev, A.R. Ribeiro de Mendonça, C. Ruocco, C. Scherrer, D. Seikel, H. Semenyshyn, B.H. Sibin, E. Sotto Tibiriçá Rosa, T. Tagieva

This comprehensive and stimulating Handbook examines the contribution of political economy to public policy. It provides an overview of several strands of critical political economy, supported by case studies from OECD countries, Latin America, South Africa, and South and East Asia.With discussions on key theories of political economy, the Handbook introduces cultural and feminist political economies, engaging critically with ordoliberalism and New Public Management. Chapters feature discussions on political economic approaches to the global division of labor, financialization and dispossession in Latin America, ecological perspectives on sustainability in China, global exploitation chains in agriculture, and postcolonial criticisms of economic development. The Handbook concludes with an exploration of the relationship between political economy and social policy, global health, and public policies.Providing a combination of critical engagement with the various theories of political economy and their application to key economic policies, this will be essential reading for students and academics in comparative politics, economics and finance, international relations, political economy, public policy, and political science. Policymakers interested in addressing socially and environmentally unsustainable practices will also find this an illuminating and informative resource.