Introducing the Regional Varieties of Asian Capitalism Approach to Lao PDR (RESEARCH Notes) (Report‪)‬

I. Introduction Comparative political economy perspectives such as the Varieties of Capitalism (VoC) approach (Hall and Soskice 2001) and the Business Systems approach (Whitley 1999), originally preoccupied with advanced economies/established demo cracies, are currently entering the realm of developing countries. In 2009 Economy and Society published a special issue focusing on South America (volume 38, issue 1), entitled "Latin American Capitalism: Economic and Social Policy in Transition". In the same year Asia Pacific Journal of Management published a special issue on "Varieties of Asian Capitalism" (volume 26, issue 3). In terms of geographical research this upswing in comparative research on the various manifestations of capitalism could very well be linked to remarks made by the renowned economic geographer Professor Yeung (2007):