Country clustering in comparative political economy

"In the comparative political economy of rich democracies there is a long tradition of classifying countries into one of a small number of categories based on their economic institutions and policies. The most recent of these is the Varieties of Capitalism project, which posits two major cluste...

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Main Authors: Ahlquist, John S., Breunig, Christian
Institution:ETUI-European Trade Union Institute
Format: TEXT
Language:English
Published: Köln 2009
MPIfG
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.labourline.org/KENTIKA-19178130124919963129-Country-clustering-in-comparat.htm
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author Ahlquist, John S.
Breunig, Christian
author_facet Ahlquist, John S.
Breunig, Christian
collection Library items
description "In the comparative political economy of rich democracies there is a long tradition of classifying countries into one of a small number of categories based on their economic institutions and policies. The most recent of these is the Varieties of Capitalism project, which posits two major clusters of nations: coordinated and liberal market economies. This classification has generated controversy. We leverage recent advances in mixture model-based clustering to see what the data say on the matter. We find that there is considerable uncertainty around the number of clusters and, barring a few cases, which country should be placed in which cluster. Moreover, when viewed over time, both the number of clusters and country membership change considerably. As a result, arguments about who has the "right" typology are misplaced. We urge caution in using these country classifications in structuring qualitative inquiry and discourage their usage as indicator variables in quantitative analysis, especially in the context of time-series cross-section data. We argue that the real value of both Esping-Andersen's work and the Varieties of Capitalism project consists of their theoretical contributions and heuristic classification of ideal types."
format TEXT
id 19178130124919963129_976b9f654b2747668f506d9ff28b3d2a
institution ETUI-European Trade Union Institute
is_hierarchy_id 19178130124919963129_976b9f654b2747668f506d9ff28b3d2a
is_hierarchy_title Country clustering in comparative political economy
language English
physical 39 p.
Digital
publishDate 2009
publisher Köln
MPIfG
spellingShingle Ahlquist, John S.
Breunig, Christian
classification
economic policy
market economy
planned economy
Country clustering in comparative political economy
thumbnail https://www.labourline.org/Image_prev.jpg?Archive=114679193285
title Country clustering in comparative political economy
topic classification
economic policy
market economy
planned economy
url https://www.labourline.org/KENTIKA-19178130124919963129-Country-clustering-in-comparat.htm