Challenging Neighbours: Rethinking German und Dutch Economic Institutions [Paperback]

Challenging Neighbours provides wide coverage of the German and Dutch economies, from an institutional point of view. Pensions, competition policy, labour relations, corporate governance, and health care are among the topics for which the institutional setting and performance of Germany and the Netherlands are compared. The difficulties and successes the countries have in facing pressures from aging population, developments in technology, and global competition are traced back to their institutional roots, and lead to mutual lessons for institutional reform for German and Dutch policy makers.1 Comparing German and Dutch Institutions.- 1.1 Motivation.- 1.2 Structure of the Study and Summary of Policy Options.- 2 The Interplay of Institutions, Trade-offs, Performance and Trends.- 2.1 Foundations.- 2.2 Coordination Issues: Four Types of Market Failures.- 2.3 Four Coordination Mechanisms.- 2.4 Issues and Mechanisms Combined: Trade-offs.- 2.5 The Impact of Trends on Institutions.- 3 Economic Development in Comparison.- 3.1 Economic Development at the Macro Level.- 3.2 Labour Market Performance.- 3.3 The Public Sector.- 3.4 Foreign Trade.- 3.5 Monetary Policy.- 3.6 Distribution of Income and Consumption.- 3.7 Conclusion.- 4 A Structural Comparison.- 4.1 Geographical Conditions.- 4.2 Energy Resources and Energy Use.- 4.3 Demography.- 4.4 Capital Stock and Investment.- 4.5 Transport and Communication Infrastructure.- 4.6 Environment.- 4.7 Regional Patterns: Shifts in German Growth Centres.- 4.8 Conclusions.- 5 Governance of the Socio-economic Order: An Economic Perspective.- 5.1 The Socio-economic Order.- 5.2 The Political System.- 5.3 Challenges for Reform.- 5.4 Policy Conclusions.- 6 Social Protection.- 6.1 Theoretical Framework: Market Failures and Trade-offs.- 6.2 Social Security in Germany and the Netherlands in the Mid Eighties.- 6.3 Reforms in the Netherlands.- 6.4 Trends.- 6.5 Policy Options for Reform: The Unfinished Agenda.- 7 Pensions.- 7.1 Market Failures and TrlÃ&