The political economy of skills formation: explaining differences in Central and Eastern Europe ; Gebėjimų formavimo politinė ekonomija: skirtumų Rytų ir Vidurio Europos šalyse aiškinimas

Sujets

• CEE
• Political science
• Skill
• VOC

Informations

• Publié par: vilnius_university
• Publié le: 01 janvier 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 37
• Langue: English

Extrait

Vilnius University
Žilvinas Martinaitis
THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF SKILLS FORMATION:
EXPLAINING DIFFERENCES IN CENTRAL AND
EASTERN EUROPE
Doctoral dissertation
Social sciences, Political science (02S)
Vilnius, 2010The research was carried out in Vilnius University, Institute of
International Relations and Political Science, in 2006 – 2010.
Scientific Supervisor:
Assoc. prof. dr. Vitalis Nakrošis (Vilnius University, Social
Sciences, Political Science – 02S)
2CONTENTS:
List of abbreviations.....................................................................................................5
List of tables:................................................................................................................6
List of figures:..............................................................................................................7
Introduction..................................................................................................................8
1. The human capital theory.......................................................................................19
1.1. The markets for skills......................................................................................20
1.2. The limits of human capital literature .............................................................25
1.3. Implications for further theoretical development............................................29
2. Reconceptualising skills and their role in national political economies. ...............30
2.1. Redefining skills..............................................................................................30
2.2. The logic of institutional complementarities in the Varieties of Capitalism
approach .................................................................................................................34
2.2.1. The logic of institutional complementarities............................................35
2.2.2. Critiques of VoC literature.......................................................................40
2.2.3. Problems in applying early VoC literature: how many capitalisms?.......41
3. Explaining the institutional foundations of skills formation systems and
trajectories of their emergence ...................................................................................47
3.1. Individual-level explanations: insuring investments in skills .........................47
3.2. Provision of skills: solving collective action problems of training.................51
3.2.1. What is the role of firms in provision of skills?.......................................52
3.2.2. Why do firms invest in training?..............................................................54
3.2.3. Interrelationships between the institutions...............................................57
3.3. How institutions evolve?.................................................................................58
3.3.1. Evolution of skills formation systems in rich OECD countries...............59
3.3.2. Explaining evolution of skills formation systems in CEE .......................60
3.4. Summary: putting the pieces together.............................................................67
4. Methods and data ...................................................................................................71
4.1. Methods for testing the hypotheses: qualitative and quantitative approaches 71
4.2. Qualitative methods: the merits of fuzzy set techniques.................................74
4.3. Indicators and fuzzy sets77
4.3.1. Measuring differences in skill formation systems in Central and Eastern
Europe ................................................................................................................77
4.3.2. Measuring generosity of unemployment benefits. ...................................91
4.3.3. Measuring employment stability..............................................................97
4.3.4. Measuring the strength of employers associations...................................98
4.3.5. Measuring coordination of wage bargaining............................................99
4.3.6. The level of centralization of inherited economies ................................101
4.3.7. Strategies of economic reforms102
4.3.8. Measuring proportionality of electoral systems.....................................107
4.3.9. Measuring government stability.............................................................108
4.4. Quantitative methods ................................................................................109
5. Empirical tests of the hypotheses.........................................................................116
5.1. Robust regression results...............................................................................116
5.1.1. Explaining acquisition of specific skills ................................................116
5.1.2. Explaining acquisition of general skills .................................................118
35.1.3. Explaining the levels of continuous VET ..............................................119
5.1.4. Explaining the functioning of apprenticeships.......................................120
5.2 Fuzzy set test of the hypotheses .....................................................................121
5.2.1. Explaining specific skills formation systems.........................................121
5.2.2 Explaining general skills formation systems...........................................126
5.2.3 Explaining emergence of skills formation systems.................................128
5.3. Implications.......................................................................................................140
5.3.1. Theoretical implications.........................................................................142
Implications for historical institutionalist accounts on the emergence of different
skills formation systems in CEE ......................................................................146
5.3.2. Explaining divergent skills formation systems in Central and Eastern
Europe ..............................................................................................................147
5.3.3. The impact of Europeanisation ..............................................................149
Conclusions152
References:...............................................................................................................157
4List of abbreviations
CEE Central and Eastern Europe
Continuous vocational education and trainingCVET
EU European Union
H Hypothesis
HE Higher education
ISCED International Standard Classification of Education
International Standard Classification of OccupationsISCO
MS Member States
OECD The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
SFS Skills formation system
VET Vocational education and training
Varieties of CapitalismVoC
Country abbreviations
AT Austria
BE Belgium
BulgariaBG
CY Cyprus
CZ Czech Republic
DE Germany
DK Denmark
EstoniaEE
EL Greece
ES Spain
FI Finland
FR France
HungaryHU
IE Ireland
IT Italy
LT Lithuania
LU Luxembourg
LatviaLV
MT Malta
NL Netherlands
PL Poland
PT Portugal
RomaniaRO
SE Sweden
SI Slovenia
SK Slovakia
UK United Kingdom
United States of AmericaUSA
5List of tables:
Table 1. The contribution of demand and supply models in explaining the links
between skills and competitiveness of national economies. ......................................25
Table 2. Ideal types of specific and general skills. ....................................................33
Table 3. Institutions in coordinated and liberal market economies. ..........................37
Table 4. Varieties of capitalisms in Central and Eastern Europe...............................43
Table 5. Hypotheses ...................................................................................................68
Table 6. Acquisition of specific skills in the CEE.83
Table 7. Fuzzy membership scores in the set of “specific skills formation system”. 86
Table 8. Membership in the fuzzy set “General skills formation system”.................91
Table 9. Evaluation of access to unemployment benefits. .........................................93
Table 10. Duration of unemployment benefits ..........................................................93
Table 11. Measures of the level of unemployment benefits. .....................................95
Table 12. Membership scores in the set of generous unemployment benefits...........96
Table 13. Membership in the fuzzy set “high employment stability”........................98
Table 14. Membership in the fuzzy set “strong industry level employers
associations”...............................................................................................................99
Table 15. Membership in the fuzzy set “coordinated wage bargaining”. ................100
Table 16. The extent to which inherited socialist economies were decentralized. ..102
Table 17. Selected transition indicators. ..................................................................106
Table 18. The extent to which the strategies of economic transition were gradual. 106
Table 19. Proportionality of electoral systems.........................................................108
Table 20. Measuring the stability of governme