Capitalism

In the early days of the system, that came to be known as Capitalism, political economists of all stripes struggled to understand the laws that govern the flow of capital - and of Capitalisms related activities. As a result, a critical assessment and sketchy understanding of how Capitalism worked began to emerge. But in recent times, as the system, and the world, has grown a hundredfold more complex we have veered away from the pursuit of any clear, critical understanding of the phenomenon. Economic departments in most major universities in the English-speaking world have abolished courses in the history of Economic and political economy. We are left with incomprehensible mathematical models whose relevance to the real world is hotly disputed. We were told very little about Adam Smith, David Ricardo and Thomas Malthus yet their names have been used to give legitimacy to contemporary economic activities. To further obscure the issues, this « econo speak » has been supplemented by endless superficial news reports, pundits discussions and analysis filled with clichés and superficial information. Our series intends to puncture this veil of opacity to go beyond the current « econo- speak » to re examine the ideas which have been used in the past 40 to reshape the world. Is todays economic crisis a temporary blimp on the road to progress or a symptom of a deeper crisis of the system as a whole? Can the big ideas of the at the heart of our Economic system help us understand todays economic crisis, or obscure it? And more importantly - can they show us a way out?