Models of capitalism

David Coates, Polity Press, 320 pages, hardback £55.00, paperback £16.99

Focusing on the US, UK, German, Japanese and Swedish economies, this very clearly written book examines the differences between their economic and political and cultural systems and sets out to show which of them worked best in the post-war era and the reasons for their comparative success or failure.

Among other relevant factors it considers the strength of labour movements, the quality of education and training, the relations between industry and finance and the role of the state. It soundly explodes the Tory myth that the strength of the labour movement adversely affected the British economy in the 1960s and 1970s.

The author argues that the shift in the balance of forces since the 1970s in favour of capital and against labour means that globalisation and the competitive pressures it causes are eroding the old social settlements and increasing labour flexibility and inequality.

To reverse this trend, he suggests that the workers will have to build up the strength of their labour movements, and he sketches an alternative strategy for the left based on a dynamic (in the relation between economies) that ratchets up wages, working conditions and labour rights.

This will require the re-imposition of controls over the movement of capital, guaranteed global labour standards, taxation of speculation, democratisation of financial institutions and a fundamental resetting of the structure, distribution and rewarding of paid work.