Comparative Analysis of Capitalist Economies: a Focus on Europe and its Different Models

Capitalism is a widely discussed topic in economic as well as in sociological studies. Since the early ‘90s, after the collapse of the economic systems of socialist Countries, it has become the main way of organizing the economy in most of the world. This article is set to describe the features of Liberal Market Economies (LMEs) and Coordinated Market Economies (CMEs), as defined in the literature on the topic, with particular reference to the European context. Even if such description is based on traditional elements, it can be useful in order to study the current evolutionary pat- terns of the two main models of capitalism, not only in a European perspective but also in a global one.