Suchergebnisse

Increasing exposure to trade, foreign direct investment, and liquid capital mobility have not prompted a pervasive policy race to the neoliberal bottom among the OECD countries. One reason is that there are strong political incentives for governments to cushion the dislocations and risk generated by openness. Moreover, countries with large and expanding public economies (when balanced with increased revenues, even from capital taxes) have not suffered from capital flight or higher interest rates. This is because the modern welfare state, comprising income transfer programs and publicly provided social services, generates economically important collective goods that are undersupplied by markets and that actors are interested in productivity value. These range from the accumulation of human and physical capital to social stability under conditions of high market uncertainty to popular support for the market economy itself. As a result, arguments about the demise of national autonomy in the global economy are considerably overdrawn.

Nach Ansicht des Autors führt die Globalisierung der Märkte nicht zu einem Wettlauf um den neoliberalsten Politikansatz zwischen den OECD-Länder. Länder mit ausgeglichenem öffentlichen Haushalt leiden in Folge der Marktöffnung nicht unter Kapitalflucht oder erhöhten Zinsen. Das liegt nicht zuletzt daran, daß moderne Wohlfahrtsstaaten öffentliche Güter bereitsellen, die für wirtschaftliche Akteure von großemInteresse sind. Dazu zählt die Bereitstellung von Humankapital, die Aufrechterhaltung sozialer Stabilität, aber auch Maßnahmen zur Befriedigung von Marktbedürfnissen. Insgesamt hält der Autor Ansichten über das Verschwinden staatlicher Souveränität für überzogen. (SWP-Clv)

Analyzes the various decision-making procedures used in the European Union: unanimity voting, qualified majority voting, consultation, cooperation, and co-decision; consequences for the pace of integration. Role of the Council of Ministers, the Commission, and the European Parliament.

The conventional wisdom about the domestic political effects of economic internationalization in recent decades is overdrawn and too simple. Increasing exposure to trade and capital mobility has not led all countries to pursue the same types of economic policies. The political power of the left and the strength of organized labor still have a marked bearing on macroeconomic policy. Rather than being constrained by internationalization, the relationship between left-labor power and fiscal expansions has increased with greater trade and capital mobility. However, the political left and organized labor have had to pay a price for these expansions. With greater exposure to world market forces, left-labor power has been increasingly associated with lower levels of corporate taxation and with higher interest rates. Nonetheless, common assertions about the demise of partisan politics must be reconsidered.