Abstract
Pension reform in European political economies has increased the institutional proximity
of local pension arrangements and emerging retirement-income institutions with the
prospects of global financial markets and conventional investment practice. Applying new
institutional theory to case studies of pension reforms in Finland, Germany and France, we
find that this increasing relational proximity is deeply embedded in existing institutional
practices typical of each political economy, simultaneously supporting continuity and
change. This suggests that the linearity inherent in debates over convergence and divergence
in comparative capitalism needs to move to more multidimensional understandings of
political–economic variety more sensitive to agency in order to grasp what is ultimately
occurring as political economies transform and interact, particularly under conditions of
financialisation.
Translated title of the contribution | Institutional Change and the Financialisation of Pensions in Europe |
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Original language | English |
Pages (from-to) | 347 - 367 |
Number of pages | 20 |
Journal | Competition & Change |
Volume | 13 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Dec 2009 |