The first shall be last -- How German workers lost their competitive edge -- Trade-union capitalism -- Competing against the welfare state -- The withering East -- Taxes and transfers : the endless loop -- The birth dearth -- EU enlargement, migration, and the new EU constitution -- Rethinking...

A prominent economist argues in this German bestseller that Germany can rescue its sluggish economy by transforming its social welfare system and reforming its labor market and tax structure, offering insights into economic dilemmas experienced by all advanced economies in a time of globalization.

This paper examines the relationship among economic context, political institutions, and the political dynamics of adjustment within national models of capitalism through an analysis of recent labor-market reform in France and Germany. It argues that a climate of economic austerity since the...