Есть ли будущее у капитализма?

The Big Idea

by Jacob Field, Джейкоб Филд, Александр Дунаев (Translator)

После того как в 2008 году мировая экономика пережила глубокие потрясения, капитализм находится в кризисе. Настало ли время положить конец системе, которая расшатывает мировую экономику? Со времени Промышленной революции капитализм способствовал быстрому развитию технологий и экономическому росту, но сегодня неравенство между богатыми и бедными растет, создавая опасное разделение внутри нашего общества. Стал ли капитализм токсичным в последние сорок лет, когда активно предпринимались меры, направленные на дерегулирование экономики и либерализацию торговли? Эта книга в захватывающей и доступной форме излагает достоинства и недостатки капитализма во всех его формах и ставит вопрос о том, существует ли ему достойная альтернатива.

Genres: Nonfiction, Politics, History, Social Science, Economics

144 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2019

Reviews

[Rosie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this reading immensely. I just question whether it should be nice. It didn't challenge any of my preconceived ideas and I could feel confirmation bias at work. That being said it was very interesting and I feel like I learnt a fair bit of factual information that helps my views seem and feel more well rounded.

[Romcsa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Veey nicdely explained history, present and possible future of capitalism. I only wish that book dealt more with the current problems and challenges of capitalism. I feel that based on the title of the book, there is too much space devoted to economic theory and history at the expense of actually presenting the ups and downs of our current capitalist system. I don't regret buying this book though, it is very nicely written, not hard to understand even for economy dummies like me and I must give it a big thumbs up for the visuals.

[Sal Leggio · Rating 3 out of 5]

For graphic design, the book deserves 5 out of 5. It is beautifully done. Content leans to stuff that is quite elementary, which is not to say unimportant. He correctly points out that capitalism has many real achievements, and that you can throw out neoliberalism (the bathwater) without throwing out capitalism (the baby). He reminds us that pure free market capitalism probably never existed, and that most capitalist countries have practiced some form of protectionism. He is also correct about inequality and the effects on the environment. But, it easier to say what is wrong than to say what to do about it.

[ciiryah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although it could be a solid starting point for someone who doesn’t have a clue about how the system works, it was a bit too shallow for my liking.

[Zeerak · Rating 4 out of 5]

A succinct and well-written explanation of the many facets of capitalism. A good prerequisite that can provide guidance for what themes to focus on next.

[xelsoi · Rating 3 out of 5]

El valor de este libro está en su accesibilidad formal: el contenido está organizado según relevancia a través del tamaño de la letra; este formato de lectura interactiva es súper conveniente para un texto informativo.
Guatea, eso sí, en sus perspectivas. Es un texto pro-capitalista que piensa en reformas posibles en vez de alternativas propiamente tal. Esa posición política me hace desconfiar, en especial porque hace un análisis sesgadísimo sobre la Unión Soviética y el proyecto socialista, mientras aplaude el modelo chino.
A pesar de esto, creo que entrega datos importantes para la discusión político-económica que valen la pena rescatar.

[Johanna Sassu · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a must read!

[Soyorin · Rating 1 out of 5]

Let’s be honest; I don’t think this book is a very good popular science read.

In principle, it should use font enlargement and reduction to help readers grasp key points clearly and easily. However, the way certain content is resized feels completely arbitrary—for instance, in the section about South Korea and North Korea, one paragraph is enlarged while the other is shrunk, even though both should be on the same priority level.

Additionally, it contains historical inaccuracies: take the part about China in 1982 (page 103), for example—private enterprise was only permitted in China in very limited forms, mainly as a "necessary complement" to the state-owned economy. Even when the 1982 Constitution supported individual, small-scale businesses; the statement “private enterprise was allowed, trade was liberalized and foreign investment was permitted” is obviously inaccurate.

Another issue is its thoroughly Western-centric perspective. Moreover, the content itself lacks depth. I’ve read this book three times, and I still don’t consider it well-written. It’s rather tedious, and I won’t be reading any other books in the same series.

[Jane Rain · Rating 3 out of 5]

+ kniha je přehledná a hezky vypadá
+ jsou v ní hezké fotky a poskytuje docela dobrý přehled o historii kapitalismu
- nabízí hodně jednostranný pohled
- kritizuje kapitalismus za zničení životního prostředí - životní prostředí se ničí i v socialismu
- hrozně okrajově zmiňuje Bitcoin a vyhýbá se problému státních peněz a různých státních monopolů, naopak volá po regulaci kapitalismu státem, pro snížení negativních dopadů a zachování kladů kapitalismu, aniž by byl tento pohled blíže vysvětlen, nebo obhájen.
- Přijde mi, že rozdíl mezi nejchudšími a nejbohatšími není až takový problém, jak kniha zdůrazňuje. Spíš je to vlastnost světa, že někdo zdědí majetek a má větší štěstí, chybí zdůraznění informace o tom, jak zvětšování nerovnosti způsobují právě státy (dotace pro ty, kdo si je umí vyjednat). Sociální dávky zvyšující závislost chudých na státu...

[Lea Kielsholm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Man får en gennemgang af kapitalismen fra begyndelsen til nu. Det gennemgås hvilke positive ting det har bragt med sig så vel som de negative ting. For eksempel belyses det grundigt hvad der var skyld i finanskrisen i 2008. Nogen vil mene den er lidt til den venstreorienterede side, men det ved jeg ikke om jeg synes. Den kritiserer kommunisme stærkt og fremhæver som sagt også de fordele kapitalismen har haft. Den er meget letlæselig trods det tunge emne og der er mange interessante billeder og illustrationer. Kan anbefales til alle der gerne vil vide lidt mere om hvorfor vores samfund er endt med at se ud som det gør.

[Galatea · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very short, very informative first look at the state of capitalism in the 21st century. Goes over the history of capitalism in brief, and manages to explain technical jargon such as austerity measures and the various schools of economics within a couple sentences each.

The book is laid out in a rather experimental way, where the size of the font indicates its importance. I found it a bit hard to get used too, but reading it from top-to-bottom like any other book, the visual impact that the bigger font sizes had on me /did/ help me remember them more, so I guess it works??

either way, I'm hella interested in this series and I'd get more if they were available in my country.

[Mila Gerasimova · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am not very familiar with economics, so I found this book very useful to sort of understand how did capitalism become what it is today and how we can try to solve its modern problems, like inequality and ecological damage. I don't think though that it is worth trying if you already know those basics.
I also want to mention graphic design, it's very practical. I can come back to this book any time to just take a look at the biggest parts of text to remember the key points. I didn't need to annotate it, which made the reading overall faster.

[Toni SG · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars to work for what it is. Like a tv documentary made book (or magazine).

Works as a refresher of some concepts. Reads more like a magazine. It kicks you off on the topic and opens some new windows to explore. To be taken as a guide on the topic. I will probably continue with some more from the same collection.

[Silfani Kartika · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book gave us the big ideas, a refresher to ideas and current events related to capitalism. I love the concept of this book, where we can only read the bigger and bold paragraphs and still can grasp the bigger picture of the main topics. For people who has a short attention span, this is a truly must read non fiction books. You can read the smaller paragraphs too if you want a more detailed explanataion

In term of book concepts, this is a five star. Although some people may think this is too general, and i somewhat agree, but the original purpose is to give “big ideas” and this book has done its job

[Kai · Rating 3 out of 5]

Crazy how even when told in a neutral way the detriments toward society that capitalism causes greatly outweigh the benefits.

[Chloe Braxton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well designed and easy to read book, gave a decent overview of the last 200ish years, but didn't tell me anything new. Not great but not terrible.

[Alan Eyre · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of good information, balanced. Doesn’t pay enough attention to the geophysical groundings of capitalism tho

[Ashvinie · Rating 2 out of 5]

kinda dead icl

[Simon Chester · Rating 4 out of 5]

A succinct overview of the system that built - and is simultaneously destroying - the world.