Making Capitalism Work

by Silk, Leonard Solomon; Silk, Mark

• ISBN13: 9780814780640
• ISBN10: 0814780644
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1996-11-01
• Publisher: New York Univ Pr

Summary

In 1995, Republicans came to power in the United States with an ambitious program proposing to embrace a degree of laissez- faire economics unknown for generations anywhere in the industrialized world. Simultaneously, politicians, entrepreneurs, and economists championed the new bastions of unregulated capitalism that sprung up in such unfamiliar precincts as Beijing and Moscow. Yet to date many free-market economic policies, be it in Prague or here in America, have not lived up to their initial promises. In fact, it has become a common joke in Russia that capitalism has succeeded in making communism look good, a feat unaccomplished by the Kremlin in its 70 year reign.InMaking Capitalism Work, Leonard and Mark Silk analyze the failures and successes of capitalism as seen most recently in the former Soviet Bloc, Japan, China, the European Community and the United States. While recognizing that capitalism has been successful in a number of countries, the authors point out that overly simplistic policies advocating an unfettered capitalism ignore too large a range of issues central to the formation of any moral economic system. Viewing capitalism as simply one of a number of economic systems, Leonard and Mark Silk address such issues as the obligation of the rich to the poor, the responsibility of the state to insulate its citizens from market fluctuations, the responsibility of present generations to provide for future ones, and whether economic systems can set the proper extent and limits of individual rights and freedoms.An important, concise, thought-provoking book this is the last book Leonard Silk wrote before his death late last year and has been completed here by his son, Mark.

Table of Contents

Foreword	ix	(6)
Richard C. Leone
Preface	xv
Mark Silk
1. The March of Capitalism	1	(18)
Leonard Silk
Mark Silk
2. The Challenge of Slow Growth	19	(14)
Leonard Silk
Mark Silk
3. American Contracts	33	(26)
Leonard Silk
Mark Silk
4. The Soviet Bloc in Transition	59	(22)
Bernard Wasow
5. The Chinese Puzzle	81	(16)
Leonard Mark
Mark Silk
6. Japan at the Crossroads	97	(22)
Leonard Silk
Mark Silk
7. Whither Northern Europe?	119	(28)
Jonas Pontusson
8. Military Spending as Industrial Policy	147	(20)
Leonard Silk
Mark Silk
9. The Future of Capitalism	167	(22)
Leonard Silk
Mark Silk
Epilogue: The (Political) Economy of Capitalism	189	(18)
Robert Heilbroner
Notes	207	(12)
Index	219