Putting Comparative Capitalism Research in its Place : Varieties of Capitalism in Transition Economies (Institutionalismus jenseits der ‚Spielarten des Kapitalismus‘: Transitionsökonomien in der Vergleichenden Kapitalismusforschung)

This chapter provides a state of the art of the comparative capitalism literature by reviewing the discussion on the ‘varieties of capitalism’ both in the developed economies and outside of the traditional capitalist core. It introduces an approach to the capitalist variety in transition economies in order to make a case for typological theories of economic performance. The chapter is selective in its focus on the ‘varieties of capitalism’ debate, but the latter was extremely influential in shaping the comparative capitalism research in the last two decades. we will argue that the comparative capitalism research, the ‘varieties of capitalism’ approach in particular, was a victim of its success. The debate it triggered has made many of its weak points apparent, but the added value of the paradigm, its original aims, got lost in the discussion that often blamed the ‘varieties of capitalism’ for failing to deliver on agendas that were beyond its aims