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The Future of American Capitalism
Monsen, R. Joseph
21/3 (Spring 1979): 5-16

The article discusses the future of capitalism in the U.S. Before World War I there were no socialist or communist governments, yet today the world is covered by communist systems that encompass more than a third of the world's population. When socialist nations are added to the list, one sees that the face of Western Europe and Africa is rapidly changing and entering the non-capitalist world. After the turn of the century, capitalism and its step child, colonialism, covered most of the globe. By the end of 1980s, some observers predict, there will be only three major industrial capitalist governments, the U.S., Japan and West Germany. Indeed, there is cause to worry whether even these three will survive. In many ways, American capitalism has changed this century. The Great Depression of 1930s, preceded by the stock market crash, ushered in the New Deal and with it the beginning of vastly changed relations between government and business. Regulation of business increasingly replaced laissez faire as the philosophy of government business relations. With the great increase in environmental and affirmative action laws, this regulative surge has continued during the past decade. The locus of decision making power has been shifting continually during the past fifty years from private hands to those of government bureaucrats.

California Management Review

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California Management Review

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