Business Civilization in Decline

by Robert L. Heilbroner

Projects widespread economic planning in the immediate future, increased industrial socialism within twentyfive years, and a new, tightly controlled society within a century

Genres: Economics

127 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1976

About the author

Robert L. Heilbroner (March 24, 1919 – January 4, 2005) was an American economist and historian of economic thought. The author of some twenty books, Heilbroner was best known for The Worldly Philosophers, a survey of the lives and contributions of famous economists, notably Adam Smith, Karl Marx, and John Maynard Keynes.

Written in 1953, The Worldly Philosophers has sold nearly four million copies—the second-best-selling economics text of all time. The seventh edition of the book, published in 1999, included a new final chapter entitled "The End of Worldly Philosophy?", which included both a grim view on the current state of economics as well as a hopeful vision for a "reborn worldly philosophy" that incorporated social aspects of capitalism.

Although a highly unconventional economist, who regarded himself as more of a social theorist and "worldly philosopher" (philosopher pre-occupied with "worldly" affairs, such as economic structures), and who tended to integrate the disciplines of history, economics and philosophy, Heilbroner was nevertheless recognized by his peers as a prominent economist. He was elected Vice President of the American Economic Association in 1972.

He also came up with a way of classifying economies, as either Traditional (primarily agriculturally-based, perhaps subsistence economy), Command (centrally planned economy, often involving the state), Market (capitalism), or Mixed.

He was a trustee of the Economists for Peace and Security.

Heilbroner died on January 4, 2005 in New York, NY at the age of 85.

Reviews

[Esteban del Mal · Rating 3 out of 5]

"How strong, deep, or sustaining can be the values generated by a civilization that generates a ceaseless flow of half-truths and careful deception, in which it is common knowledge that only a fool is taken in by the charades and messages that supposedly tell us 'the facts'?...But the market mechanism also contains profound weaknesses that have been overlooked during the period of uninhibited capitalist expansion. One of these is its tendency to create extremely skewed distributions of income and property, a tendency that a straitjacketed economy will no longer accept with the forebearance of an expanding one. Another weakness is the failure of the market to protect us against the socially deleterious side effects of production, such as pollution, an aspect that becomes intolerable in a threatened environment. And a third weakness is the matter to which we have just referred -- the exclusive focus of the market on economic activity conceived and measured in quantities of material output, not in qualities of human input. The market celebrates private consumption and ignores private production. This indifference to the experience of work corrodes and corrupts much of the way of life in a business civilization...These 'civilizational' challenges of the long run are also intimately associated with the prospect of a decline in, and finally a halt to, growth."

[Kenneth · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author, Robert Heilbroner, was a professor of economics and a convinced socialist back in the mid-20th century. In this book he argues that the capitalist system ("business civilization") has problems that will lead to central planning and thence to a socialist system. This book was written before the Reagan era and the fall of the Soviet Union and Communism, and also before the technological revolutions of computers, the internet and social media, so in retrospect I believe he was just plain wrong, even though he argues his case intelligently enough to make this a quite interesting read.

[William Crosby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Essentially says that "business civilization" (capitalism) is on the way out and gives various arguments for that. Does not adequately discuss what might replace it, but instead applies the label "socialism" to its successor claiming that much more planning will be needed to counteract all the problems caused by capitalism (such as pollution, environmental degradation, lack of resources, inequality of wealth). Claims that recycling and alternative energy will not be adequate to meet the problems: but does not provide any data. Still, does give good arguments as to why the current system cannot last.