A history of American antimonopoly, the case against Big Tech, and how Europe got better than the US at free markets: here are (in no particular order) some of the best books published during the past year.
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“Avoiding Plutocracy Would Require a Political Change”: Branko Milanovic on the Future of Capitalism
In an interview with ProMarket, CUNY Graduate Center economist Branko Milanovic discussed the differences and similarities between US-style and China-style capitalism and explained why, without major reforms, liberal capitalism could lead to plutocracy.
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A Fair Amount of Freedom for Everyone: Aaron Director Did Have Ideals
David Henderson of the Hoover Institution defends the legacy of Aaron Director, the most enigmatic among the founders of the so-called “Chicago School.” Director, argues Henderson, was not the nihilist Matt Stoller accused him of being.
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The Counterfeit Capitalism of WeWork: Predatory Pricing as a Business Model
The company failed to go public and its founder, Adam Neumann, had to step down. This is good news: ordinary investors refused to put money in a firm that is purely loss-making and killed Jamie Dimon and Masayoshi Son’s plans.
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With the US and China, Two Types of Capitalism Are Competing With Each Other
Capitalism’s global victory has been achieved through two different types of capitalist systems: the liberal meritocratic capitalism that has developed incrementally in the West, and the state-led authoritarian capitalism that is exemplified by China. Regardless of who wins, it is unlikely that one of the two will come to rule the entire globe, writes Branko Milanovic in his new book.
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The Surprising Twist in GOP Economic Thinking: Tax Cuts Might Be Bad for Business
Senator Mitt Romney wrote Donald Trump a letter to stop his plan to reduce capital gain taxes. This is an important signal that a part of the Republican Party is becoming socially conservative but economically heterodox.
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The Secret Code of Capital and the Origin of Wealth Inequality
Capital is not a thing, but a social relation enforced by the law and the state. With the right legal coding, any object, claim, or idea can be turned into a wealth- or capital-generating asset. In her new book, Katharina Pistor analyzes the evolution of capital over the past 400 years.
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The Business Roundtable CEOs’ Statement: Same Old, Same Old
Despite the media hype about corporate CEOs having abandoned their shareholder value maximization credo, the recent statement from the Business Roundtable contains nothing new of substance. CEOs still firmly convinced that their firms’ main goal remains to maximize shareholder value could sign it without batting an eye.
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Thomas Piketty’s New Book Brings Political Economy Back to Its Sources
In the same way that Capital in the Twenty-First Century transformed the way economists look at inequality, Piketty’s new book Capital and Ideology will transform the way political scientists look at their own field.
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The Limits of Private Action: What the Past 40 Years Taught Us About the Perils of Unregulated Markets
The two big ideas that animated American public policy since the end of World War II, employer-sponsored social benefits and neoliberalism, are failures. We need better options.
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The Future of Capitalism and the Utopia That Never Was
In his review of Paul Collier’s recent book The Future of Capitalism, Branko Milanovic discusses ideology, social democracy, and the “ethical world.”
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When American Capitalism Meant Equality
Americans used to have a relatively egalitarian view of markets. How did they come to accept extreme inequality as an innate part of their economic system? At the heart of this change is a radical shift in the meaning of American capitalism itself.
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