Coordination Mechanisms in Patchwork Capitalism: The Example of Housing

Abstract

This article examines coordination mechanisms in patchwork capitalism by comparing housing allocation mechanisms in Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries and Western Europe. It contributes to the study of whether patchwork capitalism is characterized by a specific, dominant coordination mechanism. The article discusses various coordination mechanisms described in the political economy of capitalism literature, with a focus on their occurrence in CEE countries. It also provides a summary of factors that may shape coordination mechanisms in the housing area in the region. An empirical analysis of the prevalence of market and non-market (e.g. statist, familial) coordination mechanisms in Poland and other EU countries is conducted. The analysis supports the hypothesis that in post-socialist countries embodying a patchwork model of capitalism, there is a set of coordination mechanisms that are distinct from those inherent to Western European models of capitalism. In the area of housing, the familial coordination mechanisms prevails with a growing but still small admixture of market mechanisms and diminishing role of the state in coordinating social actors. The article concludes with a summary of how the empirical findings obtained can be interpreted in the context of the conceptualization of patchwork capitalism.