The transition from socialism to capitalism in former socialist economies has transformed the economic structure. This book provides an overview of research on the issues raised by the shift from collective to private ownership.

Analyses the revival of the French economy at the end of the 20th century and shows how large firms took the lead in that process, becoming the drivers of economic adjustment.

Over 630 million Chinese escaped poverty since the 1980s, the largest decrease in poverty in history. Studying 700 manufacturing firms in the Yangzi region, the authors argue that the engine of China’s economic miracle—private enterprise—did not originate at the top but bubbled up from below, overcoming initial obstacles set up by the government.

An analytical framework for explaining the ways in which institutions and institutional change affect the performance of economies is developed in this analysis of economic structures.

Phillip Y. Lipscy explains how countries renegotiate international institutions when rising powers such as Japan and China challenge the existing order. This book is particularly relevant for those interested in topics such as international organizations, such as United Nations, IMF, and World Bank, political economy, international security, US diplomacy, Chinese diplomacy, and Japanese diplomacy.

Applying the new economics of organisation and relational theories of the firm to the problem of understanding cross-national variation in the political economy, this volume elaborates a new understanding of the institutional differences that characterise the 'varieties of capitalism' worldwide.

À much needed examination of a neglected issue - how societies, regions and institutions adjust to our rapidly changing economic world.'. - W. Brian Arthur, Santa Fe Institute, New Mexico. T̀his is a marvellously rich work of synthesis, bringing together a very wide range of theoretical perspectives to make sense of contemporary patterns of economic and social change. Its range of reference is remarkable - and it is further proof that much of the most interesting theoretical and empirical work today is being done on the boundaries of disciplines.'. - Geoff Mulgan, Director, The Young Foundati.

Innovation is central to the dynamics and success of organizations and society in the modern world, the process famously referred to by Schumpeter as 'gales of creative destruction'. This ambitious and wide ranging book makes the case for a new approach to the study of innovation. It is the editors' conviction that this approach must accomplish several objectives: it must recognise that innovation encompasses changes in organizations and society, as well as products and processes; it must be genuinely interdisciplinary and include contributes from economics, sociology, management and political science; It must be international, to reflect both different patterns or systems of innovation, and different research traditions; and it must reflect the fundamental changes taking place in science, research and knowledge creation at all levels. To this end they have gathered together a distinguished group of economists, sociologists, political scientists, and organization, innovation and institutional theorists to both assess current research on innovation, and to set out a new research agenda. This has been achieved through careful planning and development of the project, and also through the ensuing structure of the book which looks in turn at Product and Process Innovation (perhaps the best established focus of existing research on innovation), Scientific Research (assessing the changing character of basic research and science policy); Knowledge Dynamics in Context (encompassing organizational learning in all its aspects); and Institutional Change (an analysis of the institutional context that can shape, enable and constrain innovation). This carefully integrated and wide ranging book will be an ideal reference point for academics and researchers across the Social Sciences interested in all dimensions of innovation - be they in the field of Management Studies, Economics, Organization Studies, Sociology, Political Science and Science and Technology Studies.

This book presents a model for examining problems of institutional change and applies it to American economic development in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The authors develop their model of institutional change. They argue that if external economic factors make an increase in income possible but not attainable within the existing institutional structure, new organizations must be developed to achieve the potential in income. Their model is designed to explain the type and timing of these necessary changes in institutional organization. Individual, voluntary cooperative, and governmental arrangements are included in the discussion, although the latter differs considerably from the first two.