Title: Public state ownership within varieties of capitalism: regulatory foundations for welfare and freedom

Authors: Louise Haagh

Addresses: University of York, Heslington, York YO10 5DD, UK

Abstract: In this paper I argue public state ownership - the extent the public 'owns' the state through mechanisms of inclusivity and exclusivity in governing - can help explain divergent public policy and human development outcomes across varieties of capitalist state. An upshot is to question the neutralist premise of the varieties of capitalism (VOC) literature that different systems are equally effective. I maintain more attention ought to be paid to background factors that explain how public sector traditions that are more responsive to collective interests in human development-protective institutions generate conditions for policy coherence. I argue modalities of human development - or human economy - generate constraints on governing which entail that human development-sensitive institutions and policies are more effective. Examining contemporary punitive welfare-to-work regimes, I argue variation in public state ownership explains a more directly punitive orientation in Britain, and a more contained and 'educative' design and implementation, in Denmark.

Keywords: public ownership; public state ownership; PSO; varieties of capitalism; VOC; welfare state typology; welfare conditionality; human development governance.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPP.2019.099056

International Journal of Public Policy, 2019 Vol.15 No.1/2, pp.153 - 186

Published online: 12 Apr 2019 *

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