Challenging Neighbours: Rethinking German und Dutch Economic Institutions [Paperback]

Challenging Neighbours provides wide coverage of the German and Dutch economies, from an institutional point of view. Pensions, competition policy, labour relations, corporate governance, and health care are among the topics for which the institutional setting and performance of Germany and the Netherlands are compared. The difficulties and successes the countries have in facing pressures from aging population, developments in technology, and global competition are traced back to their institutional roots, and lead to mutual lessons for institutional reform for German and Dutch policy makers.Challenging Neighbours provides wide coverage of the German and Dutch economies, from an institutional point of view. Pensions, competition policy, labour relations, corporate governance, and health care are among the topics for which the institutional setting and performance of Germany and the Netherlands are compared. The difficulties and successes the countries have in facing pressures from aging population, developments in technology, and global competition are traced back to their institutional roots, and lead to mutual lessons for institutional reform for German and Dutch policy makers.1 Comparing German and Dutch Institutions.- 1.1 Motivation.- 1.2 Structure of the Study and Summary of Policy Options.- 2 The Interplay of Institutions, Trade-offs, Performance and Trends.- 2.1 Foundations.- 2.2 Coordination Issues: Four Types of Market Failures.- 2.3 Four Coordination Mechanisms.- 2.4 Issues and Mechanisms Combined: Trade-offs.- 2.5 The Impact of Trends on Institutions.- 3 Economic Development in Comparison.- 3.1 Economic Development at the Macro Level.- 3.2 Labour Market Performance.- 3.3 The Public Sector.- 3.4 Foreign Trade.- 3.5 Monetary Policy.- 3.6 Distribution of Income and Consumption.- 3.7 Conclusion.- 4 A Structural Comparison.- 4.1 Geographical Conditions.- 4.2 Energy Resources and Energy Use.- 4.3 Demography.- 4.4 Capital Stock and Investment.- 4.5 Transport andls