A New Spirit of Capitalism

Capitalism represents the greatest engine of material well-being that the world has ever seen. But scepticism about its viability has grown across the political spectrum, on the back of rising inequalities, climate change and digital disruptions. This book joins the debate about the crisis of capitalism—not by blindly defending the system, but by advocating concrete proposals to put it on a more socially and environmentally sustainable path.

Too often, conversations about the future of capitalism consider it as a homogeneous socio-economic system whose features vary little from one location to another; this commonly leads to one-size-fits-all recommendations to address capitalism’s flaws. The contributors to this book, by contrast, look at the transition needed from the perspective of capitalism’s multi-faceted nature, in response to challenges including the green transition, the digital revolution and spiralling inequalities. These present difficult trade-offs in terms of growth, efficiency and stability, which each capitalist model will solve differently.