The future of capitalism - Lester C. Thurow

This work analyzes the future of capitalism, and charts a course for surviving and winning in the years ahead.;"Survival of the fittest" capitalism stands alone and apparently trimphant. Communism has collapsed and the social welfare state is breaking down everywhere.;But technology and ideology are shaking the foundations of 21st-century capitalism. Technology is making skills and knowledge the only sources of sustainable strategic advantage. Abetted by the electronic media, ideology is moving toward the consumer's instant gratification. A new capitalism must emerge, one in which the ownership of skills ("man-made brainpower") instead of physical capital is the key strategic asset. Economic success will depend upon our willingness and ability to make long-term social investments in skills, education, knowledge and infrastructure.;The intrinsic problems of capitalism (instability, rising inequality) are still waiting to be solved, but so are a new set of problems - and opportunities - that flow from capitalism's growing dependence upon human capital and man-made brainpower industries. In this era of massive economic and political change as five great "tectonic plates" of capitalism reshape the future, those who win will learn to play a new game with new rules requiring new strategies. Tomorrow's winners will have very different characteristics than today's winners.;When technology and ideology start moving apart, the only question is when will the "big one" (the earthquake that rocks the system) occur? Paradoxically at a time when capitalism finds itself at the "end of history" with no social and political competitors, it will have to undergo a profound metamorphosis.;Lester Thurow is the author of "Head to Head" and "The Zero-Sum Society".