A BICs-Variety of Capitalism? Challenges for the Stability of the Economic Model in Large Emerging Countries: The Example of Brazil and India

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Andreas Nölke
• Subject Area: Political Science ; Sociological Theory
• Term: from 2012 to 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 218893009

Has the rise of large emerging economies come to an end? Considering crumbling growth rates and political turbulences, wide parts of the academic and public discourse tend to embrace this conclusion. The present project takes up this debate and examines the stability of these countries economic model from a Comparative Capitalism research perspective. It builds on the results of the first project period in which we identified the formation of a specific model of state-permeated market economy (SME) in these countries. This type of capitalism draws its economic dynamic from a particular interplay of several institutional spheres whose developments are moving center stage in the second project period: In a first step, we conduct a controlled comparison of Brazil and India in order to investigate whether the institutional pillars of the economic model have changed in a way that questions the continued existence of the SME variety of capitalism. We then turn to identify the causes for institutional change and stability in a second step. In order to test our assumption of radical change in the Brazilian political economy in contrast to path-dependent adaptation in the Indian SME, we employ both qualitative and quantitative evidence. The research group expects new insights about the political and economic development of emerging countries as well as a more precise understanding of processes of institutional change and capitalist dynamics.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants