{
  "title": "Book Review: Capitalism, Alone by Branko Milanovic",
  "sourceUrl": "https://www.imf.org/en/publications/fandd/issues/2020/03/book-review-of-capitalism-alone-qureshi",
  "canonical": "https://www.imf.org/en/publications/fandd/issues/2020/03/book-review-of-capitalism-alone-qureshi",
  "overlayPath": "/en/publications/fandd/issues/2020/03/book-review-of-capitalism-alone-qureshi/index.md",
  "summary": "Zia Qureshi of Brookings Institution reviews Capitalism, Alone: The Future of the System That Rules the World by Branko Milanovic.",
  "sections": [
    {
      "heading": "Overview and thesis",
      "content": "- Reviewed by Zia Qureshi, senior fellow in the Global Economy and Development program at the Brookings Institution.\n- Review appears in F&D Magazine, March 2020.\n- Book bibliographic details as presented: Branko Milanovic, Capitalism, Alone: The Future of the System That Rules the World, Harvard University/Belknap Press, Cambridge, MA, 2019, 304 pp., $29.95.\n- Central premise of the book: capitalism has beaten all alternatives and for the first time a single economic system rules the world. Quote: “The domination of capitalism as the best, or rather the only, way to organize production and distribution seems absolute.”\n- Milanovic’s counterpoint to the “end of history” thesis: the triumph of liberal capitalism has not delivered the 1990s vision and significant internal strains remain."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Internal strains and challenges identified",
      "content": "- Increasing income and wealth inequality within economies.\n- Declining intergenerational mobility.\n- Mounting economic and social polarization.\n- Rising influence of wealth in politics leading to concentration of both economic and political power in the hands of an elite and a weakening of democratic polity.\n- Technological change may exacerbate these strains.\n- Rising popular revolt across Western capitalist democracies reflects these tensions."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Types of capitalism and comparative analysis",
      "content": "- Two competing forms of capitalism identified:\n  - “Liberal meritocratic capitalism” — the West, with the United States as the paradigmatic example.\n  - “Political capitalism” — China presented as the exemplar.\n- Characteristics and problems of political capitalism:\n  - Endemic corruption.\n  - Weak rule of law.\n  - Authoritarian control by a political elite whose power depends on delivering continued high economic growth.\n  - Rising inequality.\n- Competition is now between different types of capitalism rather than capitalism versus non-capitalist systems."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Policy recommendations and reforms Milanovic sketches",
      "content": "- Deconcentrate capital and wealth ownership by:\n  - Tax advantages that give the middle class a bigger stake in financial capital.\n  - Corresponding increase in the taxation of the rich.\n  - Higher taxes on inheritance.\n- Significant boost in public investment to broaden access to high-quality education and enhance equality of opportunity.\n- Strictly limited and exclusively public funding of political campaigns to reduce the ability of the rich to control the political process."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Implementation challenges and scenarios",
      "content": "- Major reforms face heavy odds because wealthy elites wield strong political influence and will resist change.\n- Higher taxes on capital and wealth may be difficult in globalized capital markets without significant international coordination.\n- Absent reform, liberal capitalism may:\n  - Lurch further toward plutocracy.\n  - See technocratic structures overshadow democratic institutions as discontent with elected governments grows.\n- Political capitalism faces existential risks from the inevitable slowing of growth as economies mature.\n- Conclusion: capitalism cannot be easily replaced in the foreseeable future but can be improved; the evolution of socioeconomic systems has not reached its terminus — “The march of history continues.”\n\nSource: Zia Qureshi, \"Book Review: Capitalism, Alone by Branko Milanovic\", F&D, March 2020.\n\n---\n\n Content in this bundle\n\n- أهي نهاية التاريخ؟\n  - أهي نهاية التاريخ؟ (Markdown version){rel=\"alternate\" type=\"text/markdown\"}\n  - أهي نهاية التاريخ؟ (PDF){rel=\"external\" type=\"application/pdf\"}\n- Book Review: Capitalism, Alone by Branko Milanovic – IMF F&D\n  - Book Review: Capitalism, Alone by Branko Milanovic – IMF F&D (Markdown version){rel=\"alternate\" type=\"text/markdown\"}\n  - Book Review: Capitalism, Alone by Branko Milanovic – IMF F&D (PDF){rel=\"external\" type=\"application/pdf\"}\n- Country Report\n  - Country Report (Markdown version){rel=\"alternate\" type=\"text/markdown\"}\n  - Country Report (PDF){rel=\"external\" type=\"application/pdf\"}\n- Notes de lecture\n  - Notes de lecture (Markdown version){rel=\"alternate\" type=\"text/markdown\"}\n  - Notes de lecture (PDF){rel=\"external\" type=\"application/pdf\"}\n- 《资本主义制度的未来》 - 书 评 - 金融与发展 - 国际货币基金组织季刊 -2020年3月号·第57卷·第1期\n  - 《资本主义制度的未来》 - 书 评 - 金融与发展 - 国际货币基金组织季刊 -2020年3月号·第57卷·第1期 (Markdown version){rel=\"alternate\" type=\"text/markdown\"}\n  - 《资本主义制度的未来》 - 书 评 - 金融与发展 - 国际货币基金组织季刊 -2020年3月号·第57卷·第1期 (PDF){rel=\"external\" type=\"application/pdf\"}\n\n---\n\nSource: https://www.imf.org/en/publications/fandd/issues/2020/03/book-review-of-capitalism-alone-qureshi"
    }
  ],
  "bullets": [
    "[Markdown version](/en/publications/fandd/issues/2020/03/book-review-of-capitalism-alone-qureshi/index.md)",
    "[Structured JSON version](/en/publications/fandd/issues/2020/03/book-review-of-capitalism-alone-qureshi/index.json)",
    "[Bundle manifest](/en/publications/fandd/issues/2020/03/book-review-of-capitalism-alone-qureshi/bundle-manifest.json)",
    "Authors: ZIA QURESHI",
    "Published: March 1, 2020",
    "Reviewed by Zia Qureshi, senior fellow in the Global Economy and Development program at the Brookings Institution.",
    "Review appears in F&D Magazine, March 2020.",
    "Book bibliographic details as presented: Branko Milanovic, Capitalism, Alone: The Future of the System That Rules the World, Harvard University/Belknap Press, Cambridge, MA, 2019, 304 pp., $29.95.",
    "Central premise of the book: capitalism has beaten all alternatives and for the first time a single economic system rules the world. Quote: “The domination of capitalism as the best, or rather the only, way to organize production and distribution seems absolute.”",
    "Milanovic’s counterpoint to the “end of history” thesis: the triumph of liberal capitalism has not delivered the 1990s vision and significant internal strains remain.",
    "Increasing income and wealth inequality within economies.",
    "Declining intergenerational mobility.",
    "Mounting economic and social polarization.",
    "Rising influence of wealth in politics leading to concentration of both economic and political power in the hands of an elite and a weakening of democratic polity.",
    "Technological change may exacerbate these strains.",
    "Rising popular revolt across Western capitalist democracies reflects these tensions.",
    "Two competing forms of capitalism identified:",
    "Characteristics and problems of political capitalism:",
    "Competition is now between different types of capitalism rather than capitalism versus non-capitalist systems.",
    "Deconcentrate capital and wealth ownership by:",
    "Significant boost in public investment to broaden access to high-quality education and enhance equality of opportunity.",
    "Strictly limited and exclusively public funding of political campaigns to reduce the ability of the rich to control the political process.",
    "Major reforms face heavy odds because wealthy elites wield strong political influence and will resist change.",
    "Higher taxes on capital and wealth may be difficult in globalized capital markets without significant international coordination.",
    "Absent reform, liberal capitalism may:",
    "Political capitalism faces existential risks from the inevitable slowing of growth as economies mature.",
    "Conclusion: capitalism cannot be easily replaced in the foreseeable future but can be improved; the evolution of socioeconomic systems has not reached its terminus — “The march of history continues.”",
    "**أهي نهاية التاريخ؟**",
    "**Book Review: Capitalism, Alone by Branko Milanovic – IMF F&D**",
    "**Country Report**",
    "**Notes de lecture**",
    "**《资本主义制度的未来》 - 书 评 - 金融与发展 - 国际货币基金组织季刊 -2020年3月号·第57卷·第1期**"
  ],
  "related": [
    {
      "title": "أهي نهاية التاريخ؟",
      "role": "document",
      "sourceUrl": "https://www.imf.org/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2020/march/ar/book2.pdf",
      "summary": {
        "path": "/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2020/march/ar/book2.pdf.md",
        "mime": "text/markdown"
      },
      "binary": {
        "path": "/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2020/march/ar/book2.pdf",
        "mime": "application/pdf"
      }
    },
    {
      "title": "Book Review: Capitalism, Alone by Branko Milanovic – IMF F&D",
      "role": "document",
      "sourceUrl": "https://www.imf.org/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2020/march/book-review-of-capitalism-alone-qureshi.pdf",
      "summary": {
        "path": "/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2020/march/book-review-of-capitalism-alone-qureshi.pdf.md",
        "mime": "text/markdown"
      },
      "binary": {
        "path": "/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2020/march/book-review-of-capitalism-alone-qureshi.pdf",
        "mime": "application/pdf"
      }
    },
    {
      "title": "Country Report",
      "role": "report",
      "sourceUrl": "https://www.imf.org/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2020/march/es/critica-libros-capitalism-alone-qureshi.pdf",
      "summary": {
        "path": "/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2020/march/es/critica-libros-capitalism-alone-qureshi.pdf.md",
        "mime": "text/markdown"
      },
      "binary": {
        "path": "/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2020/march/es/critica-libros-capitalism-alone-qureshi.pdf",
        "mime": "application/pdf"
      }
    },
    {
      "title": "Notes de lecture",
      "role": "document",
      "sourceUrl": "https://www.imf.org/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2020/march/fr/note-de-lecture-de-capitalism-alone-qureshi.pdf",
      "summary": {
        "path": "/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2020/march/fr/note-de-lecture-de-capitalism-alone-qureshi.pdf.md",
        "mime": "text/markdown"
      },
      "binary": {
        "path": "/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2020/march/fr/note-de-lecture-de-capitalism-alone-qureshi.pdf",
        "mime": "application/pdf"
      }
    },
    {
      "title": "《资本主义制度的未来》 - 书 评 - 金融与发展 - 国际货币基金组织季刊 -2020年3月号·第57卷·第1期",
      "role": "document",
      "sourceUrl": "https://www.imf.org/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2020/march/zh/book2.pdf",
      "summary": {
        "path": "/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2020/march/zh/book2.pdf.md",
        "mime": "text/markdown"
      },
      "binary": {
        "path": "/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2020/march/zh/book2.pdf",
        "mime": "application/pdf"
      }
    }
  ],
  "alternates": {
    "markdown": "/en/publications/fandd/issues/2020/03/book-review-of-capitalism-alone-qureshi/index.md",
    "json": "/en/publications/fandd/issues/2020/03/book-review-of-capitalism-alone-qureshi/index.json",
    "bundleManifest": "/en/publications/fandd/issues/2020/03/book-review-of-capitalism-alone-qureshi/bundle-manifest.json"
  },
  "generatedAtUtc": "2026-09-15T05:42:36.332Z"
}