While Switzerland is well known for its specific political institutions, such as direct democracy, federalism and neutrality, or for its banking secrecy, its socio-economic institutions, which decisively contributed to its prosperity, remain relatively unexplored. This book gives the first systematic overview of Swiss political economy in comparative perspectives. Divided into four sections, the first offers an introduction to Swiss political economy, its major political institutions and Switzerland' relationship to the EU. The remaining three sections provide case studies on different parts of the political economy and policy fields. The case studies with in part two and three focus on economic actors, major socio-economic institutions addressing corporate governance, finance, labour market, skills and training. Part four addresses social and economic policies, including welfare, liberalization and economic regulatory reforms. Switzerland in Europe also offers several insights into important literature in comparative political economy: the varieties of capitalism, small states, institutional change and patterns of democracy. This will be of interest students and scholars of comparative politics, political economy, Switzerland, small states and European Studies.

While Switzerland is well known for its specific political institutions, such as direct democracy, federalism and neutrality, or for its banking secrecy, its socio-economic institutions, which decisively contributed to its prosperity, remain relatively unexplored. This book gives the first systematic overview of Swiss political economy in comparative perspectives. Divided into four sections, the first offers an introduction to Swiss political economy, its major political institutions and Switzerland' relationship to the EU. The remaining three sections provide case studies on different parts of the political economy and policy fields. The case studies with in part two and three focus on economic actors, major socio-economic institutions addressing corporate governance, finance, labour market, skills and training. Part four addresses social and economic policies, including welfare, liberalization and economic regulatory reforms. Switzerland in Europe also offers several insights into important literature in comparative political economy: the varieties of capitalism, small states, institutional change and patterns of democracy. This will be of interest students and scholars of comparative politics, political economy, Switzerland, small states and European Studies.

Education, skill formation, and training continue to be important areas of consideration for both public policy and research. This book examines the particular types of vocational training known as collective skill formation systems, whereby the training (often firm-based apprenticeships) is collectively organized by businesses and unions with state support and cooperation in execution, finance, and monitoring.
With contributions from leading academics, this book is the first to provide a comprehensive analysis of the varying historical origins of, and recent developments in, vocational training systems, offering in-depth studies on coordinated market economies, namely Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Denmark. It also contains comparative chapters that analyse how these countries react to common challenges such as deindustrialization, labour market stratification, academic drift, gender inequalities, and Europeanization.
Whereas previous research has focused on the differences between various kinds of skill regimes, this book focuses on explaining institutional variety within the group of collective skill formation systems. The development of skill formation systems is regarded as a dynamic political process, dependent on the outcome of various political struggles regarding such matters as institutional design and transformations during critical junctures in historical development.