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- Milanovic Branko_Milanović: Capitalism Alone
- Piketty Piketty: Capital in the 21st Century


Capitalism Alone, Branko_Milanović

Capitalism, Alone: The Future of the System That Rules the World, 2019, Harvard University Press. (Notes baised on listening to audio)

Great sections on Marxist interpretation of history vs. capitalist understandings.
Marxism explains 1917 but not 1989
Capitalism explains 1989 but not 1917

East Europe fell behind the West in 1980s due to 1) flexible manufacturing and 2) in the West capital could replace labor. Novel assertion? -> Communism was good for some developing counties to get to capitalism, such as China and Vietnam.

Mostly the book focuses on two current systems: 1) Political Capitalism and 2) Liberal Meritocratic Capitalism

Political Capitalism, State Capitalism is exemplified by China.
Liberal Meritocratic Capitalism was what the West used to be. After 4 decades on Shareholder Capitalism, is something else. the author says this over and over again, but, sticks to the term Liberal Meritocratic like a dog with a bone. In spite of saying that the countries with Shareholder Capitalism hove seen the political system taken over by the rich. Soon it will be similar to Political Capitalism.

Hyper-capitalism makes us Unmoored from social systems. Atomization as an economic trend. See Johann Hari: Lost Connections

If a region does not participate in hyper-capitalism, then natives do not rise in wealth and then get priced out of desirable housing in there own cities. Venice is an example.

Stakeholder Capitalism

1) In addition for State Capitalism and Nordic Capitalism, there are many countries based on Stakeholder Capitalism, aka the Nordic model. This is much closer to Liberal Meritocratic Capitalism. It is the basis of a new Davos Manifesto: Why we need the 'Davos Manifesto' for a better kind of capitalism. There is criticism: Why Stakeholder Capitalism Will Fail

Corruption is not endemic to Stakeholder Capitalism, while, as Branko makes very clear, it is endemic to State Capitalism and the Plutocratic Capitalism that we have evolved. Democracy Index and Corruption_Perceptions_Index If people feel like they have a stake and can advance with hard work, the allure of corruption is much less.

2) Corporations not part of Branko''s picture.

Other notes

Citizenship as an economic resource. I suppose that needs to be sorted, too. Not as intrinsically interesting.

At the conclusion there are various goals, this is the set of policy changes recommended for improving Western Capitalism
1) tax advantages to the middles class paid for by higher taxes on the rich and return inheritance taxes to some reasonable rate.
2) significant improvement of public schools
3) citizenship=lite - allow migration without without stirring up a backlash
4) exclusively public funding of political campaigns

jch.com/jch/notes/Capitalism.html - Capitalism Alone - 2020.01.12   YON   Book Notes



Piketty: Capital in the 21st Century

Thomas Piketty (WikiPedia)

Summary on Wikipedia
Le Capital au XXIe siecle(2013) English transaltion (2014) - I listend to the first 12 or 21 discs by Brilliant Audio, then the last disc.

About the book by Piketty! This seems to cover the major points with out nearly as much math and none of the history.

. . . As a consequence, the optimal tax policy is also two-dimensional: it involves a progressive tax on labor income and a progressive tax on inherited wealth. . .

If r > g, then the rich will keep getting richer!

That is, if the rate of return on Capital is greater that the Growth Rate fo the economy, then those that own the capital will keep accumulating the money. His proposal is a tax on capital.

r > g where r is the Return on Capital and g is the Growth Rate
k = ywhere k is Capital and y is the Output (Yield?)
s = gs is Savings and g is the Growth Rate

The Atlantic, Piketty ignores corruption
Is Piketty's "Second Law of Capitalism" Fundamental?

2016.08.29


jch.com/jch/notes/Capitalism.html 2020.01.12   YON   Book Notes