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Arguments about the incompatibility of globalization and generous welfare spending have given way to more nuanced analyses of how domestic-level institutions mediate the impact of globalization. This article discusses and compares two models – the labour-partisan politics model and the labour-monetary politics model – that identify national-level institutions that are said to make it possible for states to combine generous welfare spending and good economic performance. The empirical analysis shows that the labour-monetary politics model performs better for the period 1973–1989. However, institutional conditions that existed during these years are shown to be rather poor predictors of economic performance in the 1990s. The article goes on to discuss what this suggests for the continued viability of generous welfare spending and argues that while globalization might undermine some institutional settings conducive to continued generosity, there is evidence that other ones remain viable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years virtually all of the states have begun efforts to promote international business. They engage in a wide range of activities at home and abroad to increase state exports and to lure foreign direct investors to their states. It is somewhat surprising that only a modest amount of evaluation of these substantial efforts has taken place, and most of it sheds little light on the effects of the programs. Much activity has gone completely unrecorded, output measures abound where outcome monitoring appears possible, and little attention has been paid to causality. The article discusses the reasons that nearly all states have failed so far to produce effective evaluation and offers a series of suggestions aimed at both a more comprehensive tracking of outcomes and a more satisfactory causal linkage between outcomes and program efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]