Locating new ‘state capitalism’ in advanced economies: an international comparison of government ownership in economic entities

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper argues that state capitalism is not just a developing world phenomenon; a number of high-income economies in Europe and Asia have experienced a notable expansion of state capitalism over the past two decades. By using data on equity and investment fund shares from government balance sheets, this paper compares the strength of state capitalism across more than 30 high-income economies since 2000. This dataset enables the analysis of government ownership of economic entities in totality and over time. By analysing the diverse cases of the United States, Britain, and Norway in depth, this paper also emphasises the importance of the historical, political, and socio-economic contexts in understanding the persistence of and government influence in state capitalism through corporate ownership. Based on these analyses, this paper challenges the analytical value of ‘geographical imaginaries’ that categorise high-income economies as liberal capitalists and developing economies as statist capitalists.