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Capitalism: Success, Crisis and Reform

Yale, , Prof. W. Rae

Updated On 02 Feb, 19

Overview

Exploding Words - Thomas Malthus and Inevitable Poverty - Counting the Fingers of Adam Smith's Invisible Hand - Karl Marx, Joseph Schumpeter, and an Economic System Incapable of Coming to Rest - Property, Freedom, and the Essential Job of Government - Rise of the Joint Stock Corporation - Can You Sell a Scheme for Operating on Beating Hearts and Make a Business of It - Mortal Life Cycle of a Great Technology - Guest Lecture by Jim Alexander: Managing the Crooked E-Institutions and Incentives in Mortgages and Mortgage - Backed Securities - Accountability and Greed in Investment Banking - The Mortgage Meltdown in Cleveland - The Political and Judicial Elements of American Capitalism - Mass Affluence Comes to the Western World - Braudel's Bell Jar - The Case of Mister Balram Halwai-Microfinance in South India-plight of the Bottom Billion - Policy Targets for Capitalist Development - Marrying the Devil in Texas - Capitalist Enterprise and Clean Water for a Bolivian City

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Lecture 4: Karl Marx, Joseph Schumpeter, and an Economic System Incapable of Coming to Rest

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Lecture Details

Capitalism Success, Crisis and Reform (PLSC 270)

Professor Rae relates Marxist theories of monopoly capitalism to Schumpeters theory of creative destruction. Both Marx and Schumpeter agree that capitalism is a system that is "incapable of standing still," and is always revising (or revolutionizing) itself. Professor Rae critiques Marxist determinism and other features of Marxs theories. To highlight Schumpeterian creative destruction, Professor Rae uses examples from technological revolutions in energy production since water-powered mills. Marxs labor theory of value is discussed. Professor Rae highlights aspects overlooked by Marx, including supply and demand for labor, labor quality, and the role of capital in economic growth. Professor Rae also notes problems with Marxs predictions, including the prediction that the revolution will occur in the most advanced capitalist economies. Professor Rae also discusses Marxs theory of the universal class, the end of exploitation, and the withering away of the state.

Complete course materials are available at the Open Yale Courses website httpopen.yale.educourses

This course was recorded in Fall 2009.