Decent Capitalism A Blueprint for Reforming our Economies

by Dullien, Sebastian; Herr, Hansjörg; Kellermann, Christian

• ISBN13: 9780745331096
• ISBN10: 0745331092
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-04-15
• Publisher: PLUTO PRESS

Summary

The recent crisis, created by finance capitalism, has brought us to the economic abyss. The excessive freedom of international markets has rapidly transformed into international panic, with states struggling to rescue and bail out a globalised financial sector. Reform is promised by our leaders, but in governments dominated by financial interests there is little hope of meaningful change.Decent Capitalism argues for a response that addresses capitalism's systemic tendency towards crisis, a tendency which is completely absent from the mainstream debate. The authors develop a concept of a moderated capitalism that keeps its core strengths intact while reducing its inherent destructive political force in our societies. This book argues that reforming the capitalist system will have to be far more radical than the current political discourse suggests.Decent Capitalism is a concept and a slogan that will inspire political activists, trade unionists and policy makers to get behind a package of reforms that finally allows the majority to master capitalism.

Author Biography

Sebastian Dullien is a Professor of International Economics at HTW Berlin. Hansjrg Herr is a Professor at the Berlin School of Economics. Christian Kellermann is the Director of the Nordic Office of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in Stockholm and worked as a financial analyst in Frankfurt and New York.

Table of Contents

List of figures	p. vii
Preface	p. ix
Introduction	p. 1
The roots of crisis capitalism	p. 9
The rise of market liberalism	p. 11
The end of Bretton Woods and its consequences	p. 14
Weak left and strong right	p. 24
Unleashing financial markets	p. 27
Breaking points in finance capitalism	p. 33
Shareholder capitalism's flawed logic	p. 39
The illusion of rationality	p. 41
Global imbalances fuel global instability	p. 49
International capital flows as source of instability	p. 52
The United States as the battered hegemonic power	p. 57
Chinese mercantilism	p. 62
Destabilising imbalances in the European Monetary Union	p. 64
Labour in the wake of markets	p. 69
Labour in the face of paradigms	p. 69
Erosion of labour market institutions	p. 77
Increasing inequality	p. 80
The situation in the United States, Germany and China	p. 82
The next stage of the crisis	p. 87
From private debt to sovereign debt	p. 87
How we moved away from the abyss	p. 89
Who rescues the rescuers?	p. 94
The danger of a long period of low growth	p. 95
The path to decent capitalism	p. 99
Main features of a new economic model	p. 101
Focus on demand and green growth	p. 101
A financial system for growth and innovation	p. 104
More equitable income distribution	p. 107
Robust financing of state budgets	p. 110
Levels of regulation	p. 111
Markets as part and parcel of freedom	p. 112
Resurrecting the public sector	p. 114
Governments' strategic spending	p. 115
Sources of solid government revenues	p. 119
More than just 'automatic stabilisers'	p. 127
Targeted measures beyond 'automatic stabilisation'	p. 132
Revaluing labour and wages	p. 140
Macroeconomic needs for wage development	p. 141
Strengthening of wage bargaining and minimum wages	p. 142
Case studies: the United States, Europe and China	p. 145
Global finances need global management	p. 148
Restructuring of the financial system	p. 148
Reform of the global monetary and financial system	p. 162
Reform of corporate governance	p. 174
A new growth paradigm	p. 178
Why more GDP is still a worthwhile goal	p. 178
Reconciling economic growth and ecological sustainability	p. 182
A 'Green New Deal'	p. 188
What we can produce in the future	p. 192
More leisure time	p. 194
Conclusion: A new tale to tell	p. 196
Notes	p. 203
Bibliography	p. 208
Index	p. 217
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