Capitalism Unleashed: Finance, Globalization, and Welfare

by Andrew Glyn

This accessible and persuasive book challenges the notion of our capitalist destiny. It provides a clear and concise history of the problems facing the economies of Europe, Japan, and the US during the latter half of the twentieth century and questions whether capitalism has really brought the levels of economic growth and prosperity that were hoped for. Andrew Glyn then looks at the impact that the rapidly developing economies of China and the South are likely to have on the older economies of the North. As the race is on to maintain growth and protect competitive advantage, Glyn is the "race-to-the bottom" inevitable as the anti-globalizers predict, with welfare states being dismantled to meet competitive demands? Or is there an alternative model, which sees a strong commitment to welfare provision as essential to economic growth? Can we afford not to tackle inequality at home as well as abroad?

Genres: Economics, Nonfiction

264 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Andrew John Glyn was an English economist, University Lecturer in Economics at the University of Oxford and Fellow and Tutor in Economics in Corpus Christi College.

Reviews

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Capitalism Unleashed is a straightforward, accessible volume that details the main drift of the global political economy over the course of the last three decades. Though the book is densely packed with facts and figures, charts and graphs, and technical data documenting phenomena such as Foreign Direct Investment flows or foreign exchange rates, it is guided at all times by a keen eye toward the social relations behind the numbers. At the heart of the book is an analysis of the shifting balance of power between labor and capital, a battle that the latter has dominated since the unraveling of the postwar Golden Age during the 1970s. It was growing power and confidence of labor that was the driving force behind the crises of the 70s, and the roots of today's crisis can be located in capital's all-out counteroffensive against workers and the left. Glyn did an effective job of conveying that story, and in painting a portrait of a political economy on the verge of a global slump (the book was published in 2006, just before the financial crisis and subsequent recession).

For all its virtues, however, the book would have benefited from a reasonably diligent editor. Typographical, grammatical, and other errors abound.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Glyn gives a bird's-eye view of OECD economies from the 60s to the present day, maintaining--like a good Marxist--a focus on labor. Certain chapters were more readable than others, and of course the language sometimes went into the hopelessly vague and broad, but ultimately a handy guide to the basic machinations and developments of capitalism in the wealthy countries.

[Bba2]

Still nathing