“The ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed the world is ruled by little else. Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist.” So famously observed […]
Another day, another survey showing just how low trust in business has fallen. This has been a consistent theme for commentators and policy wonks since the crash of 2008. For some people, it was an important area even before the Great Recession. The problem, however, is that businesses (and pro-business advocates) have accepted this as […]
Progressive journalists around the world were united in their approval. Last month’s OECD report, in the words of Britain’s Guardian, “dismissed the concept of trickle-down economics”. “The OECD report reveals the immensity of the trickle-down scam,” agreed Linda McQuaig on Canada’s Left-wing website, Rabble. Any suggestion that we ought to be appreciative when the rich […]
Is capitalism finally coming to an end? Karl Marx anticipated that moment. Joseph Schumpeter also saw it coming. And just like they predicted (we are now led to believe), capitalism is getting caught in “the perennial gale of creative destruction”. For Marx, capitalism was a system of economic oppression, but like Schumpeter he had an […]
“This won’t turn out to be as peachy as it looks,” said my cabbie as he dropped me off. He was finishing a conversation that I had begun shortly after he picked me up on Pall Mall in central London. We were now pulling up at my favourite pub in Hammersmith, so it was a […]
Deepak Lal’s second article in his three part series on capitalism and inequality. One of the abiding myths of ‘development economics’, and now with the stagnation of middle class incomes in the US also in developed economises, has been that economic growth accompanied by an increase in inequality will not ‘trickle down’ to the poor. My […]
The American economy is back, with a remarkable growth rate above 3% and an unemployment rate under 6%. Every political leader, central banker or economic pundit claims to be the one who vanquished the 2008 financial crisis. What if none of the above claimants played any role in the recovery? Looking at long trends in economic growth, […]
A recent opinion piece published on the MarketWatch website and written by Paul B Farrell carried the headline “Ayn Rand vs. Adam Smith: the only midterm election that counts.” While this antithesis between Rand and Smith is an established debate among economists, Farrell’s article placed it in an aggressively political context and attached a level […]
We know that Soviet countries flourished after the breakdown of the Iron Curtain, improving life for millions of people, but exactly how did things change? In an exclusive for CapX, Tim Knox and Adam Memon of the Centre for Policy Studies draw up 9 graphs to explain everything you need to know about life in […]
The space industry is in shock after Antares, a rocket developed by the Orbital Sciences Corporation, crashed unexpectedly on Tuesday. We do not yet know why, but so far the focus has been on the damage, and how much time and money are needed to repair it. Expect outcries that this is what happens when […]
A fear during the immediate aftermath of the financial crisis was that the global banking system would become fragmented, returning to a collection of silos protected by national regulators. The crisis in the Eurozone and its forerunner in the US sub-prime mortgage market seemed to forebode a future of capital controls and a brake on the forces […]
This autumn there have been various exhibitions and television programmes in the UK commemorating the accession of George I, 300 years ago this month. However, what has generally been missing is the realisation that those who believe in capitalism and free markets also have great cause to celebrate the arrival of the corpulent Elector of […]
Ed Miliband, leader of the UK Labour Party, is attacking the “predator” businesses of capitalism. Banks are competing with big oil companies to be public enemy number one. The shelves of trendy bookstores from London to LA are groaning under the weight of anti-capitalist tracts. Unions, environmentalists and right-wing populists are all complaining that globalisation […]
When Germany lifted the World Cup this summer, the whole country rejoiced to “Deutschland über alles”. Its sporting triumph seemed to mirror its economic success: insofar as there really is a “global race”, Germany seemed out in front. Politicians and pundits of all stripes praise the Rhineland model. In Britain, Labour leader Ed Miliband’s economic […]
Financial scandals these days are like buses: another one comes along every minute. The ripples from Libor have not yet settled, but now the Serious Fraud Office has launched a criminal investigation into allegations about rigging of the £3 trillion-a-day foreign exchange markets by traders at City banks. For all those critics denouncing the evils […]
Among all major religions, Islam is the only one founded by a trader. According to the holy Quran (dictated by God himself to this prophet), profit is good as long the wealthy merchant redistributes a modest part of his acquired wealth to the poor. No idealization of poverty can be found in Islam, which makes […]
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