1. Comparative political economy: Northern European perspective Torben Iversen and Jonas Pontusson; 2. Macroeconomic analysis and the political economy of unemployment David Soskice; Part I. Wage Bargaining: 3. The Swedish employer offensive against centralized bargaining Peter Swenson and Jonas Pontusson; 4. Post-war wage setting in the Nordic countries Michael Wallerstein and Miriam Golden; 5. Why German employers cannot bring themselves to dismantle the German model Kathleen Thelen; Part II. Macroeconomic Regimes: 6. Institutional dimensions of coordinating wage bargaining and monetary policy Robert Franzese and Peter Hall; 7. Decentralization, monetarism and the social democratic welfare state Torben Iversen; 8. The politics of macroeconomic policy and wage negotiations in Sweden Andrew Martin; Part III. Macroeconomic and Distributive Outcomes: 9. Public sector unions, corporatism and wage determination Geoffrey Garrett and Christopher Way; 10. Labor-market institutions and wage distribution Jonas Pontusson.

"The result of years of empirical and theoretical work and debate, this book represents a major step ahead in the comparative study of modern capitalism, and especially of the impact of political institutions and institutional change on economic processes and outcomes." Wolfgang Streeck, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies