Beyond Historical Institutionalism: Toward an New Theory of the Retirement Crisis

• In Event: 3566 - Capitalism and Its Crises: Economic, Political, Ecological

Abstract

Historical institutionalism is a widely employed framework for understanding policy in America. Yet by ignoring the capitalist context in which policies are made and how policymakers are beholden to a growth imperative in developed democracies it offers only a partial view. This paper compares the rise and fall of pensions in America and shows that such structural factors were the primary driver. After World War II, collectively bargained private pensions were installed as an alternative to Social Security expansions. But these plans began to go into decline in the 1980s, when defined-contribution retirement accounts, such as 401(k)s, came to replace them. Considering the capitalist context in which retirement policy is made, this paper makes three arguments – building upon the neo-Marxist theory of policy change. First, in both episodes policymakers were motivated to intervene because of a structural condition – to manage perceived crises in capitalism, not to secure a certain vision of old age retirement. Second, state intervention into labor-management relations triggered policy changes in the private pension system. And third, the particular way they intervened and how their policy choices spurred pension marketization was driven by contingent historical circumstances. In exploring what is living and dead in historical institutionalism, this article argues that structural constraints establish a range of possible policy options available to policymakers, yet the contingent and historical factors institutionalists point to explain policy selection within that range.

Author

• Michael A. McCarthy, Marquette University