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How Fast and Why Did Early Capitalism Benefit the Majority?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2009

Cynthia Taft Morris
Cynthia Taft Morris
Affiliation:
Cynthia Taft Morris is Charles N. Clark Professor of Economics at Smith College, Northampton, MA 01063.
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Abstract

How long did it take for early rapid capitalist transformations to benefit the majority of the population? This essay examines three presumed success cases, concluding that rapid capitalist development took at least five decades to benefit the majority. A neglected political force for success was the effectiveness of local public and quasi-public institutions in creating wide networks of transportation and other public investments responsive to changing market requirements. Economists today should pay close attention to distributional benefits and local government effectiveness before urging western brands of capitalism on countries where failures to benefit the majority threaten severe political instability.

Type
Papers Presented at the Forty-Fourth Annual Meeting of the Economic History Association
Information
The Journal of Economic History , Volume 55 , Issue 2 , June 1995 , pp. 211 - 226
Copyright
Copyright © The Economic History Association 1995

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