Corporatism in Decline?

During the 1970s and early 1980s most studies on corporatism indicated that corporatist policies led to lower unemployment and inflation and higher economic growth rates. In the mid- and late 1980s, however, voices claiming that corporatism is in “decline” became more and more frequent although hardly any empirical examinations were undertaken. The purpose of this study is to estimate empirically the influence of corporatist arrangements on macroeconomic performance and industrial disputes in the 1980s as compared with the 1970s and 1960s. This pooled time-series/cross-sectional analysis provides evidence that corporatist policies have not lost their capacity to achieve the desired macroeconomic goals in the 1980s; in addition, corporatism significantly reduces the number of working days lost. However, no evidence was found that corporatism leads to increased economic growth. There is evidence that economic growth is adversely affected by government outlays.