21st Century Capitalism [Hardcover]

Robert Heilbroner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1993

Speculating on the future of capitalism since the defeat of communism, the author addresses such issues as the hardiness of the varieties of capitalism, job security and capitalism, and the role of government and the private sector.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Economists, practitioners of the dismal science, are little known for their compassion or their profundity, but Robert Heilbroner, author of The Worldly Philosophers, displays both in this sweeping study of the state and future of capitalism. Based on lectures delivered at Massey College, Heilbroner's book argues persuasively that the public sector, far from being a drag on the marketplace, can be "an indispensable source of strength;" that the death of Communism, not just an unalloyed cause for celebration, represents in some ways the end of the ideals of egalitarianism and community; and that there is "a limit beyond which acquisitiveness no longer serves, and may well disserve, the adaptability of the order." A book everyone concerned about more than their next paycheck should read. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

From Publishers Weekly

Economics, often vilified as the "dismal science" offers, in Heilbroner's deft book, an exhilarating exploration of ideas. In this study, based on lectures from the fall of '92, he ponders the possibilities for 21st-century capitalism in a sweeping examination of the "idea of progress," capitalism as a social and political system, class struggle, capital accumulation, the challenge of growth, the marketplace, the collapse of the Soviet Union and the unpredictability of human behavior. As for American capitalism, he maintains "its success will hinge on the capacity to perceive the public sector, as did Adam Smith, in terms of an indispensable source of strength for a private economy." Heilbroner ( The Worldly Philosophers ) predicts that capitalism is likely to remain "the dominant social order." But, he warns, we will probably have to confront "a limit beyond which acquisitiveness no longer serves, and may well disserve." This study, written by one of the nation's preeminent and prolific economists, should generate exceptionally strong interest.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 175 pages
• Publisher: W W Norton & Co Inc (September 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393035166
• ISBN-13: 978-0393035162
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,955,537 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Robert Heilbroner is the Norman Thomas Professor of Economics, Emeritus, at The New School for Social Research. He is the author of over twenty books, among them The Worldly Philosophers. He lives in New York City.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Capitalism's gigantic challenges, May 6, 2004

By 

Luc REYNAERT (Beernem, Belgium) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: 21st Century Capitalism (Hardcover)

Robert Heilbroner is a brilliant teacher. With clear and concise explanations he reveals the essential characteristics of our capitalist society as well as its historical background.
Capitalism is based on eternal exchange (money for commodities for money ...) and change (products, means of production, jobs ...).
It engenders also multiple conflicts. In our world there is global economic integration but political compartmentalization (individual states). It enhances the cleft between the haves and the have-nots and it produces externalities like pollution (global warming).
Although this book contains some controversial points (exaggerated alienation suffering by workers, projection of a world wide centrally planned economy), I agree with its conclusion that capitalism will survive the 21st century. It has found a new fertile elan in new formidable markets like China and India.
Robert Heilbroner states that capitalism can only survive in a democracy, but that could be fatally contradicted by the Chinese experiment.
Surely, world capitalism will undergo drastic changes, being confronted with such crucial problems as global warming, delocalization of work forces, the redefinition of the role of the national public sector or the power of international organizations.
It will also provoke radical changes in world power. The new winner will most probably be China, because India has to resolve the Hindu/Muslim controversy and the 'classes' hurdle.
This small book is a must read for all those interested in the future of our world.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars As an Introduction to the Economic Future, It's Just the Thing, April 29, 2006

By 

David Weinstein (Long Island, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: 21st Century Capitalism (Paperback)

People who want to improve the world soon doubt the usefulness of the newspaper. For depth and quieter contemplation they turn to thin, portable volumes that superficially make contact with all facets of a social sciences discipline. Heilbroner's 21st Century Capitalism is just the thing. It names the major economists of capitalism and describes the last 150 years of the trajectory in economics. It is true that the narrative is cast in a certain gloom. The work of an economist is a doctor's work, not an inventor's. He does not announce with fanfare new dawns, that is not the economist's calling. Trudging through the evidence, the economist diagnoses the ailments and prescribes the remedies. Heilbroner's prognosis for capitalism is burdened with the same pessimisms all of the great economists carried. After tribalism, after feudalism, this bipartite system (part market, part government) offers: to numb the minds of the manufacturing plant worker, to create inexorable conflict between wage earners and the wage skimming entrepreneur, and to produce cultural deterioration in the hands of the newly arisen bourgeosie. This story drives us to nostalgia, so we look back on Heilbroner's time itself. The 1980s and the post-Persian Gulf War era seemed to presage reduced productivity and slow growth. It didn't happen, but the long-term trajectory Heilbroner observed remains the underlying condition, for capitalism and for triumphalist American capitalism in particular. The reader should not read this book looking for predictions, a search to which the futurist title can lead. None of the major events of 1973-1993 had been predicted, as Heilbroner says, so he plays it conservatively, pointing out the probable parameters of the future and the conditions in which certain developments may occur. Read him for the language and for the depth and even the feeling to his authoritative contemplation.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars About the Real Long Run, June 20, 2001

By 

C. Metcalf - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: 21st Century Capitalism (Paperback)

This is a book that reiterates a lot of the work in "The Decline of the Business Civilization" also by Heilbroner but in the 1970's. The purpose of the book is not to give anything in the way of short run economic prediction (like upswings in the stock market) but instead to attempt to step out of the capitalist mindset for a minute to explore what it means to be in a capitalist society. This includes the costs and the benefits. The purpose is to try to determine what possibilities exist for economic systems in the future by understanding what forces will shape them. This analysis includes discussion of economic and political forces, the tension between the two, and yes of course Marx.