The future(s) of capitalism
Throughout its history, capitalism has shown an outstanding ability to evolve and adapt to changing political and technological environments.
Throughout its history, capitalism has shown an outstanding ability to evolve and adapt to changing political and technological environments.
Opening discussions at this Aspen Junior Fellows event was the observation that the increase in the speed of progression of events and the shift towards a multipolar and networked world have led to a transformation in capitalism, with the advent of techno-finance representing one of the most obvious low points of this phenomenon.
More than three years after the outbreak of the crisis which engulfed the world economy, Italian businesses have shown that they have, on the whole, withstood the impact of the economic and financial tsunami. The country remains the fifth-ranking global manufacturing power and the second in Europe after Germany, running counter to the trend that has seen a progressive reduction in the market shares of traditional industrial economies – the US and Japan in particular.
The crisis currently in progress is exceptional for many reasons, including the fact that it seems to be the culmination of a series of rapid-growth phenomena. The globalization of the 1990s, while producing many positive effects, was too fast and was not accompanied by a sufficient adaptation of the major multilateral institutions, the rules (especially in the financial sector) and the world monetary system itself.
The participants at this roundtable were deeply critical of the lack of transparency in the international financial system, the product of an out-of-control laissez-faire capitalism and a global lex mercatoria that has swept aside traditional capitalist organizational forms and the regulatory functions of public authorities.
This seminar examined developments in the concept of progress and in models of capitalism in light of the profound economic and social changes wrought by the financial and economic crisis.