Which Flavor Of Capitalism Do You Like?

This article makes several good points. The first point is that there is no such thing as a monolithic system of capitalism. It is defined differently in different parts of the world. The utopian view of capitalism, in which markets operate freely without government intervention, has been the ideal in the Anglo American world. I call it utopian because it is not realized anywhere in the world. On the other hand, the ideal is often invoked to limit government efforts to deal with the adverse outcomes of the Anglo American model. In other parts of the world governments are more involved in shaping outcomes. The assumption is that the object of economic activity is to spread the benefits of capitalism more evenly. Social Darwinism is less highly regarded outside of the Anglo American sphere. The Anglo American ideal has lost much of its influence in recent years. This is particularly true in Asia where governments are more involved in shaping industrial policy to better deal with the different circumstances that prevail in each country. There is no longer a battle between capitalism and some other economic system. There is a contest between different models of capitalism and the Anglo American model of plain vanilla capitalism is showing its age.