Description

Why are advanced capitalist democracies continuing to suffer through economic crisis? Why do they continue to demonstrate decreasing rates of economic growth, increasing inflation and unemployment, and slower rates of technological innovation and investment? The distinguished authors of these articles first analyze the magnitude, causes and consequences of this crisis, and then examine the governmental response to crisis in these different industrial countries. This original collection begins with a critical analysis of the current answers to these questions. It goes on to analyze the relationship between government policy and economic reality, arguing that the weak relationship between the two, as well as the failure of economic strategies in general, is a major cause of the economic crisis. The contributors examine governmental responses to the crisis, including the economic environment of these countries, their integration into the world economy, and the political and ideological aspects of their policies. This tightly focused work contains explicit cross-national comparisons between the capitalist democracies, and gives us important new insights into the functioning of advanced industrial democracies. This work will be essential reading for scholars and students interested in comparative politics and political economy. "Apart from its comparative focus, the main strength of the book is that the authors highlight many of the problems of the policy-making process often ignored by economists. . . an important set of research papers on comparative political economy and suggests many directions for future research." --Political Studies