Sunday, July 10, 2011

Trick question - who favored modern capitalism?

a. Adam Smith
b. Sweden
c. Karl Marx

I bet you chose Adam Smith.

Actually, he didn't like limited liability corporations.  He thought an owner should work in his own shop or factory with a few employees.  If he worked in it himself, he would be very interested in its success.  If others owned the shop or factory, they would be less interested in how it was run.

Sweden in 1844 was the first country to make limited liability generally available.  Few had the resources to start a steel mill or a railway.  People outside the company had to furnish the capital without incurring losses greater than they put into the company.

Karl Marx in 1865 thought that joint-stock companies would bring huge material progress.

Source: "23 Things They Don't Tell You about Capitalism", Ha-Joon Chang, Bloomsbury Press, 2010

From "Thing 2: Companies should not be run in the interest of their owners".  The result has been loss of vitality in many a large corporation.  Thing 1 is "There is no such thing as a free market".