A spectre is haunting the world – the spectre of global capitalism |
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Authors: | William Kingston |
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Institution: | (1) School of Business Studies, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland (e-mail: wkngston@tcd.ie), IE |
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Abstract: | Individual property rights are fruitful for economic development because they civilise self-interest by forcing it to serve
the common good. The history of previous property rights “cycles,” however, shows that their ability to do this deterioriates
over time because the laws of property fall under the control of those whom property is meant to discipline. Irresponsible
ownership then intensifies inequality until a breaking point is reached. The present cycle is no exception, but its breaking
point has been postponed by the growth of the democratically-inspired welfare state.
Globalisation is now eroding the financial basis of this, because mobile capital can escape taxation, leaving labour to carry
the burden. The main thrust of this movement is now found in the World Trade Organisation, whose control of intellectual property
and commitment to free trade in money as well as goods, can only increase inequality between countries as well as within them.
It represents individual property rights which are out of any form of social control, since there is no global mechanism for civilising self-interest. Schumpeter's sense of the impending demise of capitalism, if not of its replacement
by socialism, may yet be vindicated. |
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Keywords: | : Property rights – Globalisation – World Trade Organisation – Schumpeter |
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