Inside a welfare market

Berner, Frank; Leisering, Lutz; Buhr, Petra

doi:10.1007/s11577-009-0042-0

Cited by 16 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…As a result, a larger share of German old age income became dependent on capital markets, which indicates pension financialization (Ebbinghaus, 2018). However, safety buffers in terms of guarantees and insurance elements aim to protect individuals from risk and volatility in this new ‘private pension market’ (Berner et al., 2009) more than in most other countries, as has become obvious in the aftermath of the global financial crisis (Wiß, 2015); with regards to occupational pensions, ‘Germany shows almost no sign of financialisation’ (van der Zwan, 2017: 561). While the redesigning of the second and third pillars avoided substantive financialization and thus displays path-dependent qualities, the relative weight of the three pillars was still substantially reshuffled.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Capitalists against financialization: The battle over German pension funds

Röper

2021

Competition & Change

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Despite renewed interest in the role of business in shaping the welfare state, we still know little about how factions of capital adapt their strategies and translate these into political infighting and coalition building. Based on a detailed process tracing analysis of the political battle over German pension funds, this paper shows that cleavages within business do not necessarily run along the lines of finance vs. non-finance. While ‘financial challengers’ (banks and investment companies) advocated financialized pension funds, ‘financial incumbents’ (insurers) defended a conservative understanding of old age provision. Tremendous political momentum towards financialization notwithstanding, challengers remained largely unsuccessful. Incumbents elicited support from the wider business community by adjusting their strategic goals and engaging in discursive reformulations to effectively fight pension financialization from within capital. To accommodate such competition politics and coalition building, the paper argues for a more dynamic understanding of business strategizing and highlights the importance of discursive political strategies. It shows that some capitalists may act as antagonists of elements of financialization and problematizes the actual mechanisms of coalition building through which business plurality affects political outcomes.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“… 20 For an overview of the tax subsidies for private and company pensions in the PRA2001, see Berner et al. (2009: 135–148).…”

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confidence: 99%

Capitalists against financialization: The battle over German pension funds

Röper

2021

Competition & Change

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“…However, an initial study was done byBerner et al (2009), who analyzed the welfare market of private pensions in Germany.…”

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Welfare industries: enterprises as providers of public goods

Klenk

Nullmeier

2010

Z Vgl Polit Wiss

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Business interests and social policy interests are not mutually exclusive-the Varieties of Capitalism-literature (VOC) has demonstrated this convincingly. this paper shares this assumption, but stresses another explanation. In contrast to VOC literature, it focuses on enterprises not as employers, but as providers of social security products. In doing so, the paper tries to highlight a development which has been neglected by the recent discussion on behalf of the role of enterprises in welfare provision: the rise of a welfare industry. the paper discusses the role of enterprises as providers of welfare goods in a comparative perspective taking the case of private hospitals in Germany and the us as an example.Zusammenfassung: einer der wichtigsten Impulse zur theoretischen Weiterentwicklung der vergleichenden sozialpolitikforschung ist in den vergangenen Jahren von der ‚Varieties of Capitalism'-Debatte ausgegangen: unternehmen wurden als sozialstaatsförderer ‚entdeckt'.In der VOC-Literatur wird jedoch vernachlässigt, dass unternehmen sich nicht nur in ihrer Rolle als Arbeitgeber für sozialpolitik interessieren. sie sind zum teil auch deshalb am Ausbau des sozialstaats interessiert, weil sie mit Wohlfahrtsgütern als Produkten handeln. Die Politik der Marktschaffung, die im zentrum gegenwärtiger sozialstaatsreformen steht, hat den Aufstieg der ‚Wohlfahrtsbranche' gefördert.Der Beitrag analysiert den Aufstieg und die entwicklung von unternehmen in Wohlfahrtsbranchen am Beispiel privater Krankenhäuser in Deutschland und den usA. Durch die Betrachtung der unterschiede und Gemeinsamkeiten zwischen unternehmen in verschiedenen Wohlfahrtsbranchen in zwei unterschiedlichen Regimetypen angehörenden Ländern soll die Bedeutung dieses neuen Akteurs in der sozialpolitik eingeschätzt werden.Schlüsselwörter: Vergleichende Wohlfahrtsstaatenforschung · Wohlfahrtsmarkt · unternehmen · Wohlfahrtsindustrie · usA · Deutschland z Vgl Polit Wiss (2010) 4:29-52

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Introduction

Pieper¹

2017

New Private Sector Providers in the Welfare State

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Inside a welfare market

Cited by 16 publications

References 10 publications

Capitalists against financialization: The battle over German pension funds

Capitalists against financialization: The battle over German pension funds

Welfare industries: enterprises as providers of public goods

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