IS CAPITALISM AT A BREAKING POINT?

NEW FRONTIERS – ONE

Global capitalism has raised millions out of poverty. Yet it has also created growing inequalities between the rich and the poor, and put the environment under pressure. Is Capitalism at a breaking point? And if yes: What might replace it?

RECENT CONTRIBUTIONS
“Lack of Competition Generates Hubris…”
Interview
This 18 min. read saves you up to 13 hours
For your knowledge advantage, we put together the most actionable insights from 2 getAbstract summaries (2 books with a total of 624 pages) on this topic. If you did this work yourself, you would be busy for at least 731 minutes (about 13 hours). Learn more.
“Lack of Competition Generates Hubris…”

…and unfortunately, this also applies to the economic system the world largely adopted and is now relying on: capitalism. The world’s leading inequality scholar, Branko Milanović talks about global income disparities, resurgent ideologies and the most promising strategies for dealing with both.

“We Lead the World in Science, and We Also Lead the World in Opposition to Science”
Jared Diamond, American historian and anthropologist, Pulitzer Prize-winning author, and UCLA professor, playing piano in the living room of his home in the Bel-Air neighborhood of Los Angeles; photo by Damon Casarez /Redux/laif
This 13 min. read saves you up to 32 hours
For your knowledge advantage, we put together the most actionable insights from 3 getAbstract summaries (3 books with a total of 1599 pages) on this topic. If you did this work yourself, you would be busy for at least 1906 minutes (about 32 hours). Learn more.
“We Lead the World in Science, and We Also Lead the World in Opposition to Science”

Jared Diamond, world-famous historian of societal crises and collapses, on why “denial” was and is one of America’s society’s biggest problems.

THE FOUNDATIONS OF CAPITALISM

Know What You're Discussing

Image of: The Wealth of Nations
Adam Smith

The Wealth of Nations

The classic par excellence: Adam Smith's seminal explanation of political economy.

CreateSpace
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Image of: Capitalism, Alone
Branko Milanović

Capitalism, Alone

Global convergence has now made it a capitalist’s world, but political approaches differ.

Belknap Press
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Image of: Capital in the Twenty-First Century
Thomas Piketty

Capital in the Twenty-First Century

Thomas Piketty’s bestseller offers an exhaustive historical take on inequality.

Belknap Press
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Image of: Bourgeois Equality
Deirdre N. McCloskey

Bourgeois Equality

Why, beginning in the 1700s, did Europeans and Americans experience a drastic improvement in welfare?

University of Chicago Press
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Image of: Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy
Joseph A. Schumpeter

Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy

Economist Schumpeter called capitalism "creative destruction," and said it would self-destruct from stagnation and revolt.

Harper Perennial
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Walter Scheidel

The Great Leveler

Want income equality? History says to start a revolution – a bloody, devastating one.

Princeton UP
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Jathan Sadowski

Too Smart

Using your data makes technocrats and “digital capitalists” rich and empowers them to control you.

MIT Press
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Image of: Capital
Karl Marx

Capital

The Marxist bible: In his economic masterwork, Karl Marx details capital accumulation and the exploitation of the proletariat.

Oxford UP
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Image of: The Road to Serfdom
Friedrich A. Hayek

The Road to Serfdom

Why democracy and capitalism produce a better society than socialism and central economic planning.

Routledge
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Naomi Klein

This Changes Everything

Naomi Klein issues an impassioned cry to wake up and admit what’s happening around you.

Simon & Schuster
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Image of: The Myth of Capitalism
Jonathan Tepper and Denise Hearn

The Myth of Capitalism

Income inequality is the outcome, not the cause, of capitalism’s dysfunction.

Wiley
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Image of: The Return of Depression Economics and the Crisis of 2008
Paul Krugman

The Return of Depression Economics and the Crisis of 2008

If governments can make calm decisions and if investors don’t panic, economies can recover from all kinds of mayhem.

W.W. Norton
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FEATURE

#getTogether

Column

Design Your New Normal
This 6 min. read saves you up to 63 hours
For your knowledge advantage, we put together the most actionable insights from 15 getAbstract summaries (11 books with a total of 3138 pages, one article and 2 videos) on this topic. If you did this work yourself, you would be busy for at least 3760 minutes (about 63 hours). Learn more.
Design Your New Normal

Now is the time to evaluate what you have learned under the extraordinary pressure of the last weeks – and use that knowledge to influence the future of your organisation.

The Inequality Issue

“When Piketty said returns on capital are high and only go higher, I thought he was wrong”
Denise Hearn and Jonathan Tepper / mythofcapitalism.com
This 7 min. read saves you up to 7 hours
For your knowledge advantage, we put together the most actionable insights from one getAbstract summary (one book with a total of 320 pages) on this topic. If you did this work yourself, you would be busy for at least 377 minutes (about 7 hours). Learn more.
“When Piketty said returns on capital are high and only go higher, I thought he was wrong”

Income inequality within nations has increased steeply since 1980. This fact has become widely accepted as an elemental “flaw” of capitalism. Economists Denise Hearn and Jonathan Tepper disagree and give a different explanation: where there is no competition, inequality grows. With getAbstract, Tepper elaborates on the topic.

On Basic Incomes and Foreign Aid

Efosa Ojomo, Clayton M. Christensen and Karen Dillon
Efosa Ojomo, Clayton M. Christensen and Karen Dillon
“When the Foreign Aid Industry Primarily Focuses on Empowering Entrepreneurs, It Will Win the Fight Against Poverty.”

In one of his last interviews, economist Clayton M. Christensen, who passed away in January 2020, argues that only innovation can lift nations out of poverty.

The A.I. Revolution

“Access to Much Greater Intelligence Will Be a Step-Change in Our Civilization”
Stuart Russell by Mehdi Chebil/Polaris/laif
This 13 min. read saves you up to 7 hours
For your knowledge advantage, we put together the most actionable insights from one getAbstract summary (one book with a total of 320 pages) on this topic. If you did this work yourself, you would be busy for at least 371 minutes (about 7 hours). Learn more.
“Access to Much Greater Intelligence Will Be a Step-Change in Our Civilization”

Leading computer scientist Stuart Russell on the major breakthroughs towards the first human-level AI, its foreseeable economic and social effects – and the risks of massive pullbacks on the way.

What about China?

TOP ARTICLE SUMMARIES
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William A. Galston

Yes, contemporary capitalism can be compatible with liberal democracy

Good public policy can heal the rift between capitalism and liberal democracy.

Brookings Institution
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Alan S. Blinder

The Free-Trade Paradox

The politics of global trade can undermine its economic benefits.

Foreign Affairs
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Peter Coy, David McLaughlin, Matthew Boesler, Carolynn Look, Katia Dmitrieva, Shawn Donnan and Andrew Mayeda

Seven Fixes for American Capitalism

In the US economy, new fixes that once seemed radical are now getting more attention.

Bloomberg Businessweek
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Suresh Naidu, Dani Rodrik and Gabriel Zucman

Economics After Neoliberalism

Modern economics needs a fresh way of thinking to address inequality and improve prosperity.

Boston Review
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