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Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF SKILLS IN COMPARATIVE-HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
- 2 THE EVOLUTION OF SKILL FORMATION IN GERMANY
- 3 THE EVOLUTION OF SKILL FORMATION IN BRITAIN
- 4 THE EVOLUTION OF SKILL FORMATION IN JAPAN AND THE UNITED STATES
- 5 EVOLUTION AND CHANGE IN THE GERMAN SYSTEM OF VOCATIONAL TRAINING
- 6 CONCLUSIONS, EMPIRICAL AND THEORETICAL
- Bibliography
- Index
- Cambridge Studies in Comparative Politics
6 - CONCLUSIONS, EMPIRICAL AND THEORETICAL
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 September 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF SKILLS IN COMPARATIVE-HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
- 2 THE EVOLUTION OF SKILL FORMATION IN GERMANY
- 3 THE EVOLUTION OF SKILL FORMATION IN BRITAIN
- 4 THE EVOLUTION OF SKILL FORMATION IN JAPAN AND THE UNITED STATES
- 5 EVOLUTION AND CHANGE IN THE GERMAN SYSTEM OF VOCATIONAL TRAINING
- 6 CONCLUSIONS, EMPIRICAL AND THEORETICAL
- Bibliography
- Index
- Cambridge Studies in Comparative Politics
Summary
This chapter summarizes the main empirical findings of the analysis, both the cross-national and the longitudinal dimensions, and relates these findings to several major theoretical debates in the literature. The analysis of cross-national differences in the institutions governing in-plant training and the over-time analysis tracking the evolution of the German system over a longer period speak to debates in the political–economic literature on “varieties of capitalism” concerning institutional origins and institutional complementarities. Moreover, the analysis here provides insights into a broader literature in political science concerning issues of institutional reproduction, institutional change, and path dependence in politics.
Cross-National Comparisons: The Origins of Divergent Skill Regimes
The single variable that mattered most crucially to the divergent trajectories of skill formation documented here was the behavior and strategies of leading firms in skill-intensive industries, particularly the machine and metalworking industries. Around the turn of the century, large machine and metalworking firms across all four countries shared similar interests and were pursuing roughly similar strategies with respect to skill formation. Circa 1895 firms like M.A.N., Mather and Platt, Yokosuka, and General Electric were all engaged in efforts to develop their own in-plant capacities for skill formation and combining these with various policies designed to co-opt workers and exclude unions. From then on, however, trajectories diverged as these firms adapted their strategies to the particular constellation of incentives and constraints they faced in their separate countries.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- How Institutions EvolveThe Political Economy of Skills in Germany, Britain, the United States, and Japan, pp. 278 - 296Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2004