Advantages of Liberal Market Capitalism

Over the last fifty years, many different models of capitalism have emerged. Their evolution has, of course, been to some extent path-dependent – reflecting pre-existing differences in institutional structures, economic specializations, and political coalitions. The liberal market capitalism found in the United States of America and to some degree in the United Kingdom has some distinct features that can be regarded as advantages over other forms of capitalism – such as those found in Continental Europe and East Asia. Although the scope of the paper is not sufficient to analyze all advantages in detail, I will try to shed some light on the main points, concentrating on the American model of capitalism, because it has by far the most liberal capitalist foundations. Independence of individual firms from outside financiers, extraordinary adaptability to economic change, flexible external labor markets and high profits in the short run are some of the main features that can be characterized as advantages of the liberal market capitalism.…