Varieties of Capitalism and Welfare Regime Theories: Assumptions, Accomplishments, and the Need for Different Methods

Abstract

This article reviews assumptions, contributions, and impasses of the two most important theories of capitalist diversity: Esping-Andersen’s (1990) welfare regime and Hall and Soskice’s (2001) varieties of capitalism typology. It shows that each theory implies a multilevel structure that nests lower-level units in upper-level units. However, even though this multilevel structure is at the center of many debates in the comparative capitalism literature, it is rarely explicitly modeled, let alone tested. Identifying this as an important route forward for research on capitalist diversity, I will show how future research could employ multilevel models to answer some of the most important questions about capitalist diversity.