Regulation School and Swiss Capitalism: IMEG hosts Guillaume Vallet
Prof Guillaume Vallet (second from left) with IMEG members Dr Philipp Kern, Prof Gerhard Schnyder, and Dr Melike Arslan (left to right)
This week, IMEG at Loughborough University London’s Institute for International Management & Entrepreneurship had the great pleasure to host Prof. Guillaume Vallet (Universite Grenoble Alpes) for a research seminar.
Guillaume provided an overview of the Swiss variety of capitalism and discussed two key historical moments in its formation. The presentation covered the Second Industrial Revolution in Switzerland (1880-1913), based on a study published in the Review of Political Economy, and the “Battle for the Franc” in the 1930s that saw the victory of the gold standard and austerity in Switzerland.
Applying a Regulation Theory approach to the case of Switzerland, Guillaume and his co-author show that the Swiss state played a key role as ‘organiser’ of private actors to enable rapid industrialisation between 1880 and 1913. Switzerland thus constitutes an interesting empirical case that contrasts somewhat with more statist cases such as France.
It was a fascinating talk on a little-known historical case of successful state intervention to promote economic development. Guillaume also provided useful tips about how to get published on rather niche cases in international journals.
More generally, the history of Switzerland’s organised capitalism and the role of the Swiss state in it holds lessons for Switzerland in the wake of the disappearance of Credit Suisse, as it is seeking to re-build a ‘community of destiny’ similar to the one that made the second industrial revolution possible.
Switzerland’s economic history may also hold some lessons for the rest of the world in terms of successful state intervention and industrial policies in the context of transition to greener economies around the world.
