Emergent and Established Capitalisms Compared

Seminar "Faces of Eastern Europe"

The debate on varieties of capitalisms is currently enriched by contributions regarding the emerging capitalist economies of Eastern Europe. Where do these economies fit on the liberal coordinated continuum defined by this paradigm? Are the typologies of established capitalisms useful in describing the institutional configurations of Eastern European economies? Moreover, do these economies converge on an American or Continental European model?

My research tries to bring a contribution to such topics by employing fuzzy-set analysis to identify similarities and differences in the institutional arenas of a selected group of Eastern and Western European economies. This presentation revolves around some of the intermediary findings and the additional research questions that can be further addressed.

Aura Matei is Researcher at the Center for Institutional Analysis and Development Eleutheria, Bucharest, and Ph.D. student at the Faculty of Sociology, University of Bucharest.