The Future of Capitalism

By: Paul Collier

Narrated by: Peter Noble

Length: 9 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's Summary

From world-renowned economist Paul Collier, a candid diagnosis of the failures of capitalism and a pragmatic and realistic vision for how we can repair it.

Deep new rifts are tearing apart the fabric of the US and other Western societies: thriving cities versus rural counties, the highly skilled elite versus the less educated, wealthy versus developing countries. As these divides deepen, we have lost the sense of ethical obligation to others that was crucial to the rise of post-war social democracy. So far, these rifts have been answered only by the revivalist ideologies of populism and socialism, leading to the seismic upheavals of Trump, Brexit, and the return of the far right in Germany. We have heard many critiques of capitalism, but no one has laid out a realistic way to fix it, until now.

In a passionate and polemical audiobook, celebrated economist Paul Collier outlines brilliantly original and ethical ways of healing these rifts - economic, social, and cultural - with the cool head of pragmatism rather than the fervor of ideological revivalism. He reveals how he has personally lived across these three divides, moving from working-class Sheffield to hypercompetitive Oxford and working between Britain and Africa, and acknowledges some of the failings of his profession.

Drawing on his own solutions as well as ideas from some of the world’s most distinguished social scientists, he shows us how to save capitalism from itself - and free ourselves from the intellectual baggage of the 20th century.

©2018 Paul Collier (P)2018 HarperCollins Publishers

A Challenging Read, Worth The Effort

Paul Collier attempts to define the "Golden Mean" in Politics and Economics, while writing a prescription for walking us all back from the brink of destructive polarization. Truly a worthwhile and grand goal. In my view, he partially succeeds, but is only likely to reach the people who are already thoughtful and open minded about these sorts of things.

He claims that the goal of the book is not to change politicians minds, but to reach out and change the perspectives of everyday voters. I have a higher than average tolerance for academic lectures and "wonky" dialog and found it tough sledding. Seems likely the average consumer would lose patience before finishing the first chapter.

Paul describes a "well informed electorate" as one of the most important of public goods, and also one that is extremely hard to produce. A primary goal of the book is to help with this particular challenge.

To have a better chance of "reaching the masses" with these concepts, a short form summary with less economic and political jargon, that can be consumed by the average YouTube viewer in about 15 minutes would seem more likely to succeed. John Green, you up for this?

If you are the sort of person who likes thinking about potentially better ways forward, and analysis of "how the heck did we get ourselves into this mess" based on political and economic theory, this book is a must read.

5 people found this helpful

Stream of consciousness

The author is obviously quite knowledgeable and astute. However, his "stream of consciousness" writing style was disorganized and failed to lucidly convey his points, which came across in an oblique way. Moreover, too much time was repeatedly taken with prefatory remarks about what the author intended to present in later chapters.

Finally, at least for my taste, the author's constant use of almost every possible "ism" word throughout the book presents more of a philosophical statement/argument than a concrete, explicit discussion of what is occurring in the world today and possible remedies available.

6 people found this helpful

Reactionary

Entitled so-called pragmatist aligns himself with academics without data or facts. The author calls upon the people to be educated without being educational.

3 people found this helpful

Perfect

This is seriously crystalized, evidence based, and falsifiable knowledge from an economist who's really clued-in to present day world, wants everyone to prosper, with fair policies.

Must read book for every person who makes decisions.

A central theme is "reciprocal obligations" aka Dharma, which also might entice people to read the book. And they must - this will probably be the first book I buy and gift to people. Probably going to buy a few dozen copies and just hand them out.

1 person found this helpful

The Future of National Socialism

Although it was a gift, I was truly interested in this book. As the first chapter points out exhaustively, the author's bona fides are respectable and he does make some excellent points about the challenges many economies face. Unfortunately, every solution offered is, essentially, "the state can fix it, let's just tax this thing". The fact that he thinks silicon valley CEOs are libertarians because "bitcoin" should have been the first clue, really.
Most of the "failings" he attempts to pin on capitalism are really the failings of previous manipulations and perversions of capitalism. He repeatedly accuses property owners (literal landlords who rent property tenants) of being unworthy of their capital gains ("they might as well have been sitting on the beach") while simultaneously suggesting pensioners should benefit from gains in the market while simultaneously being insulated from market risk (while literally sitting on a beach). He seems to have missed that those nigh onto retirement should generally move to less volatile investments well before retirement. Moreover, if the state should get most of the gains from agglomeration (despite not taking the risks or investing in the property improvements)... can't the state just purchase the property and invest in the first place? Of course not, then the state assumes the risk... we wouldn't want that.
The author then wraps all this together with a strong urge towards patriotic nationalism, because economies need ties that bind and the only logical tie left to us is geographic locations (nations)... and then in the same chapter describes how ISIS has been able to build a shared identity for disaffected youth via the internet.
If this setup sounds familiar (mandated socialism led by a nationalistic state), well kudos to you. Of course, it will be different this time, he promises.

24 people found this helpful

Major disappointment

This book was fraudulent in purporting to talk about capitalism. It was about social problems in Great Britain.

2 people found this helpful

Stunning and important

A must-read for all who wish to understand how America, Britain and Europe have arrived where we are today economically, socially and politically- abd how to move to a more equal, sopportive and positive state for the future. A must read for anyone in public office or running for public office- especially for President!

4 people found this helpful

Fantastic and forward thinking!

Really enjoyed this book. It was on Bill Gates summer reading for 2019 so I decided to get it. The author goes into some really fantastic content. I loved the part on the ethical family. I generally do not read up on politics but the author made such a fantastic case on looking at things from the middle vs. to far left or right. For every challenge he discussed he provided a potentially viable solution. At the very least it’s worth a read to open your mind to the possibilities of what Capitalism could be with some pragmatic steps. The book really provided me a new lens to look at our ever changing world. Bravo!

great point of view on the politic arena.

great point of view on the politic arena. The author provides us with a fascinating nalysis of the world through the perspective of the dynamic political trends.

Fascinating Insight

The insight provided into the current state of affairs across the world is thought-provoking, and I would highly recommend for anyone willing to set aside their own personal bias for a new perspective of the current shift in societies.