Governments, Markets, and Growth: Financial Systems and Politics of Industrial Change

by John Zysman

Overview

The deterioration in the economic performance of the advanced industrial democracies during the 1970s provoked an intense debate about the role of government in economic adjustment and growth. In Governments, Markets, and Growth, John Zysman makes a significant contribution to our understanding of these critical international issues by demonstrating that there is a direct relationship between a nation's financial system and its government's ability to restart the growth engine.Professor Zysman argues that there are three distinct types of financial systems, each with different consequences for the political ties between financial markets, industry, and government. Zysman tests his argument by analyzing and comparing the patterns of industrial adjustment in five advanced nations. He contrasts the differing strategies of industrial adjustments primarily in France and Great Britain, but also in Japan, West Germany, and the United States. Governments, Markets, and Growth will be invaluable to the international banking and business community, a wide variety of government officials, and students of political science, economics, and business administration.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780801492525
Publisher:	Cornell University Press
Publication date:	09/10/1984
Series:	Cornell Studies in Political Economy
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	358
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.00(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

John Zysman is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley.

What People are Saying About This

Robert Heilbroner

Governments, Markets, and Growth is an original and important contribution to the debate about industrial policy. John Zysman holds out no panaceas for America. Rather, he helps us understand the nature of the institutional forces that set the stage for different kinds of policies. We are not likely to formulate an effective policy for this country until we have thought hard about the relationships between government, industry, and finance that Zysman explores in this path-breaking study.

Peter A. Gourevitch

John Zysman has done a remarkable job analyzing a very difficult, neglected subject in a way which advances greatly both scholarly and general concerns, Building on a vital core—finance—Zysman constructs an analytic edifice capable of bearing great weight in the burden of interpreting other important issues—industrial policy, the politics of coping with changes in the competitive situation of industries in different countries.

Editorial Reviews

As the title suggests, this first-rate book covers a lot of ground. At the core is a pioneering analysis of the way national financial systems facilitate or hinder the conduct of industrial policy. A broader focus is on how the different relations of government and market in Japan, France, Germany, Britain, and the U.S. affect each country's ability to cope with changes in the international economy. All these financial systems are shown to be subject to new challenges that differ a good bit from one another. What they have in common, the author reminds us, is that they have provided the foundations for acceptable political systems which may also be called into question if they cannot cope with economic problems.

-- "Foreign Affairs"

From the Publisher

"John Zysman has done a remarkable job analyzing a very difficult, neglected subject in a way which advances greatly both scholarly and general concerns, Building on a vital core—finance—Zysman constructs an analytic edifice capable of bearing great weight in the burden of interpreting other important issues—industrial policy, the politics of coping with changes in the competitive situation of industries in different countries."

Peter A. Gourevitch

"Governments, Markets, and Growth is an original and important contribution to the debate about industrial policy. John Zysman holds out no panaceas for America. Rather, he helps us understand the nature of the institutional forces that set the stage for different kinds of policies. We are not likely to formulate an effective policy for this country until we have thought hard about the relationships between government, industry, and finance that Zysman explores in this path-breaking study."

Robert Heilbroner

"As the title suggests, this first-rate book covers a lot of ground. At the core is a pioneering analysis of the way national financial systems facilitate or hinder the conduct of industrial policy. A broader focus is on how the different relations of government and market in Japan, France, Germany, Britain, and the U.S. affect each country's ability to cope with changes in the international economy. All these financial systems are shown to be subject to new challenges that differ a good bit from one another. What they have in common, the author reminds us, is that they have provided the foundations for acceptable political systems which may also be called into question if they cannot cope with economic problems."

Foreign Affairs