Olivier Butzbach

Elaborating a new approach to the comparative political economy of banking, Financial Democracy presents evidence of both the recent return to traditional bank management and the resurgence of alternative banks with social and public policy missions. The book begins with a critique of contemporary approaches to banking, finance, and money in political economy, financial economics, and, indeed, the major schools of economics since 1945. In this analysis, traditional banks were expected to be replaced with market-based banking and new types of non-bank entities able to tap market efficiencies. Drawing on a unique combination of participatory democratic theory, comparative political economy, theories and concepts on banking and finance, and the varieties of democracy, democratization, and regime change in political science, the findings of this book are precisely the contrary. Historical-institutional methods and balance-sheet analysis reveal change in the opposite direction: a back-to-the future return to traditional strategies of deposit taking and loan making and public finance at banks. A variety of social reactions of self-defense, especially since 2010, are documented in case studies of six large advanced and underdeveloped economies; reactions against the commodification of credit, finance, and banking caused by the liberalization of domestic markets for credit and banking. This book will be of interest to readers in political economy, banking, finance, and democratization.

This Element qualifies the common understanding of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) as mere instruments of the state and instead conceive of them as economic actors in their own right. Specifically, SOE top management teams have leeway to diverge from goals that the state they are owned by pursues. Through 'institutional work' they can even actively shape the institutional framework in which they are embedded. However, the extent of SOE top management teams' leeway for agency is determined by macro- (country), meso- (State–SOE governance system), and industry-level factors. These factors, in turn, vary from country to country and over time. In other words, SOE agency is 'embedded agency.' Combining institutional work and historical institutionalism analytic lenses, this Element presents a multilevel model to understand embedded agency of top management teams of SOEs in contemporary capitalism. The model adds an important element to our understanding of the 'new state capitalism.'

This Element qualifies the common understanding of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) as mere instruments of the state and instead conceive of them as economic actors in their own right. Specifically, SOE top management teams have leeway to diverge from goals that the state they are owned by pursues. Through 'institutional work' they can even actively shape the institutional framework in which they are embedded. However, the extent of SOE top management teams' leeway for agency is determined by macro- (country), meso- (State–SOE governance system), and industry-level factors. These factors, in turn, vary from country to country and over time. In other words, SOE agency is 'embedded agency.' Combining institutional work and historical institutionalism analytic lenses, this Element presents a multilevel model to understand embedded agency of top management teams of SOEs in contemporary capitalism. The model adds an important element to our understanding of the 'new state capitalism.'

This second volume on the political and social economy of financialization in the US focuses on the consequences of the rise of finance for the American macroeconomy, household inequality, and the management of nonfinancial business enterprises. A historical–institutional balance-sheet approach to long-term trends and recent change in the US reveals a series of anomalies and provisos for critical, heterodox, and mainstream economic approaches and provides new perspectives on debates about political economic change in advanced economies since the 2007–2008 financial crisis. This book marks a significant contribution to the literature on financialization and studies in social economics, household economics, the structure and management of nonfinancial business enterprises, and American political economy.

This second volume on the political and social economy of financialization in the US focuses on the consequences of the rise of finance for the American macroeconomy, household inequality, and the management of nonfinancial business enterprises. A historical–institutional balance-sheet approach to long-term trends and recent change in the US reveals a series of anomalies and provisos for critical, heterodox, and mainstream economic approaches and provides new perspectives on debates about political economic change in advanced economies since the 2007–2008 financial crisis. This book marks a significant contribution to the literature on financialization and studies in social economics, household economics, the structure and management of nonfinancial business enterprises, and American political economy.