What Went Wrong With Capitalism
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- Pre-Order
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- Expected 11 Jun 2024
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- £13.99
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- Pre-Order
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- £13.99
Publisher Description
A radical examination by a leading financial analyst, commentator and investor of the ills of capitalism and how they can be fixed
What went wrong with capitalism? Ruchir Sharma’s explanation is unlike any you have heard before. Progressives are partly right when they mock modern capitalism as “socialism for the rich,” but what really happened in recent decades is that government in developed nations expanded in just about every measurable dimension, from spending and regulation to the sheer scale of its rescues each time the economy wobbled. The result, Sharma says, is “socialized risk,” expensive government guarantees, for everyone—welfare for the poor, entitlements for the middle class, and bailouts for the rich.
Voters say they are disillusioned with capitalism, but a system so distorted by government interventions is a dysfunctional version of free market ideals. As a result, productivity and economic growth have slowed sharply, shrinking the pie for everyone and stoking popular anger. Since these flaws developed as the government expanded, building an even bigger state will only double down on what’s gone wrong. The answer Sharma offers is a series of seven fixes to restore the balance between state support and free markets and lay the path to a more prosperous and happier future.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
"By smothering capitalism's competitive fire, big government is slowing productivity growth," according to this unpersuasive treatise. Sharma (The 10 Rules of Successful Nations), founder of the investment firm Breakout Capital, argues that the U.S. government's reliance on "easy money"—a catchall term for state interventions, including lowering interest rates, buying bonds, and bailing out corporations—is driving wealth inequality, the proliferation of monopolies, and the ballooning of the national debt. According to Sharma, central banks that lend money on generous terms to struggling companies stymie competition and compound market inefficiencies, contributing to losses in national economic production. Because wage growth depends on productivity increases, Sharma contends, these irresponsible lending habits, paired with bailouts for the wealthy, are widening the gap between rich and poor. Unfortunately, the proposed solutions are less than inspiring. He argues that doing away with market interventions will allow companies to rise and fall on their own merit, with the most productive outfits coming out on top. However, the implication that increased productivity will lead to higher worker wages doesn't address the possibility that executives could simply pocket the gains for themselves. To Sharma's credit, he's astonishingly forthright about the downsides of less intervention, admitting somewhat glibly that more frequent downturns are the price society pays for "economic freedom" ("Some degree of suffering is a given in life"). This is unlikely to sway readers who don't already share its conservative fiscal outlook.
