A Historical Outlook on Capitalism Development

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Entire industries previously owned by the State were privatized, entire industries were de-regulated like the financial industry. This facilitated the creation of new financial products, unfettered by regulation. The West became a more individualistic place. This was a time were we moved collectively from the notion that ‘self-interest is good’ to the mantra that ‘greed is good’. Things seem to go very well for Europe and the USA for many years; even if the same cannot be said of most countries called “developing nations”.

The 80s and 90s and the early 2000s for the Western nations were periods of successes even if interspersed with crises that seem to become more and more frequent. Multinationals corporations became more powerful and wealthy than many nations states. The entire world became their playground where to produce and sell their products and services (with fewer restrictions and checks).

In 2007-2008 we had what is often considered the worse financial crisis. This triggered a global depression. In the past 6 years, or so, in the West (but not only) we are living with the consequences of neo-liberalism. We are still fully immersed in it. Now renowned economists like Prof. Stiglitz and experts like Prof. Reich in their videos can provide you with details and ideas on what are the problems with this system of capitalism and why it is failing rather than benefitting the majority as promised.

In the coming weeks we shall discuss in more depth the specificities of the financial crisis!!

If you are interested in knowing more, these are some of the references on which this note is built:

Epstein, G. (2005) Financialization and the World Economy

Kotz, D. (2015) The rise and fall of neo-liberalism

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