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15 - Capitalism and human welfare

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 March 2014

By
Leandro Prados de la Escosura
Edited by
Larry Neal  and
Jeffrey G. Williamson
Larry Neal
Affiliation:
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Jeffrey G. Williamson
Affiliation:
Harvard University, Massachusetts
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Summary

The spread of capitalism has been associated with free markets and freedom of contract, that is, with the absence of interference in agents' decisions will start by presenting trends in human development for the world and its main regions. The comparison between preindustrial and industrial eras shows a significant improvement in welfare across the board, in terms of both average incomes and equity, as a result of globalization and economic growth. This chapter explores the differences observed in terms of human development between laissez-faire and regulated capitalism, and between market and socialist societies in their early stages of economic development. It investigates the contribution of each dimension of human development to its overall performance and the extent to which they help understand the observed differences between the West and the Rest. Major gains in human development were achieved in the West during the regulated phase of capitalism.

Keywords

Big Push industrializationsbusiness enterprisesfamily pyramidsneoclassical economicsfreestanding firmsJapanlow-income economies
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge History of Capitalism , pp. 501 - 529
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2014

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