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Portal:Capitalism

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Portal:Capitalism
Portal:Capitalism

The Capitalism Portal

Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. It is characterized by private property, capital accumulation, competitive markets, commodification, wage labor, and an emphasis on innovation and economic growth. However, such economies tend to experience a business cycle of economic growth followed by recessions.

Economists, historians, political economists, and sociologists have adopted different perspectives in their analyses of capitalism and have recognized various forms of it in practice. These include laissez-faire or free-market capitalism, anarcho-capitalism, state capitalism, and welfare capitalism. Different forms of capitalism feature varying degrees of free markets, public ownership, obstacles to free competition, and state-sanctioned social policies. The degree of competition in markets and the role of intervention and regulation, as well as the scope of state ownership, vary across different models of capitalism. The extent to which different markets are free and the rules defining private property are matters of politics and policy. Most of the existing capitalist economies are mixed economies that combine elements of free markets with state intervention and in some cases economic planning.

Capitalism in its modern form emerged from agrarianism in England, as well as mercantilist practices by European countries between the 16th and 18th centuries. The Industrial Revolution of the 18th century established capitalism as a dominant mode of production, characterized by factory work, and a complex division of labor. Through the process of globalization, capitalism spread across the world in the 19th and 20th centuries, especially before World War I and after the end of the Cold War. During the 19th century, capitalism was largely unregulated by the state, but became more regulated in the post–World War II period through Keynesianism, followed by a return of more unregulated capitalism starting in the 1980s through neoliberalism. (Full article...)

Selected article

Norwich Market (also known as Norwich Provision Market) is an outdoor market consisting of around 200 stalls in central Norwich, England. Founded in the latter part of the 11th century to supply Norman merchants and settlers moving to the area following the Norman conquest of England, it replaced an earlier market a short distance away. It has been in operation on the present site for over 900 years.

By the 14th century, Norwich was one of the largest and most prosperous cities in England, and Norwich Market was a major trading hub. Control of, and income from, the market was ceded by the monarchy to the city of Norwich in 1341, from which time it provided a significant source of income for the local council. Freed from royal control, the market was reorganised to benefit the city as much as possible. Norwich and the surrounding region were devastated by plague and famine in the latter half of the 14th century, with the population falling by over 50%. Following the plague years, Norwich came under the control of local merchants and the economy was rebuilt. In the early 15th century, a Guildhall was built next to the market to serve as a centre for local government and law enforcement. The largest surviving mediaeval civic building in Britain outside London, it remained the seat of local government until 1938 and in use as a law court until 1985. (Full article...)

Selected biography

Alfred Marshall (26 July 1842 – 13 July 1924) was one of the most influential economists of his time. His book, Principles of Economics (1890), was the dominant economic textbook in England for many years. It brings the ideas of supply and demand, marginal utility, and costs of production into a coherent whole. He is known as one of the founders of neoclassical economics. Although Marshall took economics to a more mathematically rigorous level, he did not want mathematics to overshadow economics and thus make economics irrelevant to the layman. (Full article...)

Selected quote

The gains and losses are not isolated or independent events. The crucial role of prices is in tying together a vast network of economic activities among people too widely scattered to all know each other. However much we may think of ourselves as independent individuals, we are all dependent on other people for our very lives, as well as being dependent on other people for our very lives, as well as being dependent on innumerable strangers who produce the amenities of life. Few of us could grow the food we need to live, much less build a place to live in, or produce such things as computers or automobiles. Other people have to be induced to create all these things for us, and economic incentives are crucial for that purpose. A Will Rogers once said, "We couldn't live a day without depending on everybody." Prices make that dependence viable by linking their interests with ours.
— Thomas Sowell (1930)
Basic Economics , 2015

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Capitalism topics

Capitalism .. Private property .. Economic freedom .. Laissez-faire .. British Agricultural Revolution .. Industrial Revolution .. Klondike Gold Rush .. Marketplace .. Prices .. Money .. Wage .. Taxes .. Patent .. Capitalist mode of production .. Criticisms of socialism .. Adam Smith .. Milton Friedman .. Ludwig Von Mises .. Murray N. Rothbard .. The Wealth of Nations .. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism .. Capital and Interest .. Capitalism and Freedom .. American capitalism .. Corporate capitalism .. Democratic capitalism .. Anarcho-capitalism .. State capitalism .. Welfare capitalism .. Ronald Reagan

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