How Institutions Evolve: The Political Economy of Skills in Germany, Britain, the United States, and JapanThe institutional arrangements governing skill formation are widely seen as a key element in the institutional constellations defining 'varieties of capitalism' across the developed democracies. This book explores the origins and evolution of such institutions in four countries - Germany, Britain, the United States and Japan. It traces cross-national differences in contemporary training regimes back to the nineteenth century, and specifically to the character of the political settlement achieved among employers in skill-intensive industries, artisans, and early trade unions. The book also tracks evolution and change in training institutions over a century of development, uncovering important continuities through putative 'break points' in history. Crucially, it also provides insights into modes of institutional change that are incremental but cumulatively transformative. The study underscores the limits of the most prominent approaches to institutional change, and identifies the political processes through which the form and functions of institutions can be radically reconfigured over time. |
Contents
THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF SKILLS IN COMPARATIVEHISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE | 1 |
Skills and Skill Formation | 8 |
The Argument in Brief | 20 |
Theories of Institutional Genesis and Change | 23 |
Lessons from the Present Study | 31 |
Outline for the Book | 37 |
THE EVOLUTION OF SKILL FORMATION IN GERMANY | 39 |
The Importance of the Artisanal Economy in the Evolution of Skill Formation in Germany | 42 |
The Role of the State and the Fate of the Japanese Artisanate | 151 |
Strategies of the Large Metalworking Companies | 163 |
The Evolution of the Japanese Management System | 166 |
Germany and Japan Compared | 174 |
The Evolution of Skill Formation in the United States | 177 |
Skill Formation in Early Industrial America | 178 |
Union and Employer Strategies in the Metalworking Industry before World War I | 186 |
The Politics of Training during and after World War I | 202 |
Strategies of the Large Machine and Metalworking Companies | 55 |
Political Coalitions and the Evolution of the System | 63 |
The Political Coalition against Reform | 79 |
THE EVOLUTION OF SKILL FORMATION IN BRITAIN | 92 |
State Policy and the Fate of the British Artisanate | 93 |
Union and Employer Strategies in the MetalworkingEngineering Industry | 104 |
Reform Efforts before World War I | 118 |
The Impact of War and Its Aftermath | 133 |
Comparisons and Conclusions | 145 |
THE EVOLUTION OF SKILL FORMATION IN JAPAN AND THE UNITED STATES | 148 |
The Evolution of Skill Formation in Japan | 149 |
Comparisons and Conclusions | 212 |
EVOLUTION AND CHANGE IN THE GERMAN SYSTEM OF VOCATIONAL TRAINING | 215 |
The Evolution of the System under National Socialism | 219 |
Vocational Training in Postwar Germany | 240 |
Erosion through Drift? | 269 |
CONCLUSIONS EMPIRICAL AND THEORETICAL | 278 |
Institutional Complementarities | 285 |
Institutional Evolution and Change | 292 |
297 | |
323 | |
Other editions - View all
How Institutions Evolve: The Political Economy of Skills in Germany, Britain ... Kathleen Thelen No preview available - 2004 |
Common terms and phrases
Acemoglu and Pischke actors apprentice contracts apprentice training apprentices apprenticeship apprenticeship training artisanal sector associations Britain British certification Chapter coalition collective bargaining companies competition compulsory conflicts context continued coordination craft unions craftsmen DATSCH Dinta early industrial period economic engineering especially example Finegold firm-based training foremen Germany Germany's handicraft chambers Handwerk Hansen Herrigel important in-plant training incentives increased inside contracting institutions interests internal labor markets investment issues Jacoby Japan Japanese journeymen Knox Kocka labor markets labor mobility large firms legislation machine master metalworking Nazi occupations ongoing organized labor overall oyakata path dependence Pätzold Pierson plant-based training poaching political problems production programs punctuated equilibrium reform regime regulation role schools Schütte skill formation skilled labor skilled workers Soskice specific standards strategies Streeck Taira tion trade traditional training firms unions and employers unskilled VDMA vocational training wages Weimar Wolsing youth Zeitlin