Path dependence as a concept in institutional theories has become increasingly popular in economics and other social sciences. The key idea is that in a sequence of events, the latter events are not (completely) independent from those that occurred in the past. Yet, common usage of the concept...

The reform of the welfare state entails changes in interdependent policy fields stretching from social policies to employment and wage policies. These linked policy fields are often governed by varying sets of corporate actors and involve different decision making procedures. Adaptation in one...

Introduction : studying varieties of welfare capitalism / Bernhard Ebbinghaus and Philip Manow -- Business coordination, wage bargaining and the welfare state : Germany and Japan in comparative historical perspective / Philip Manow -- Strategic bargaining and social policy development :...