Beckert’s history of capitalism: Why the past tells us little about how long this economic order will endure

Capitalism: A Global History by Harvard historian Sven Beckert.In the self-interest of this claim, its length is best left undisclosed.It kicks off with a jaw-dropper: the 1639 trial in America of Robert Keayne, a trader shamed for ‘false principles’ like it being fine for someone to “sell as dear as he can and buy as cheap as he can” and take advantage of either “his own skill or ability” or “another’s ignorance or necessity.”Adam Smith’s thesis of an ‘invisible hand’ blending our interests to serve our collective well-being came much later, in 1776, though capitalism as an economic order is characterized not just by a free market, but also by the right to private property, contract enforcement and other props.The charm of Beckert’s account of endless capital self-creation is that it offers us a global view. After all, its story not only spans a millennium, it girdles the globe.Aptly, thus, this book takes us back to trade across the high seas around India about nine centuries ago.

Capitalists thrived, Beckert notes, but capitalism did not.The latter took hold only after Europe stormed in with firepower to control trade routes, its merchants forged alliances with states, social reproach eased and key enablers arose, such as limited liability and shares, central banks and war-funding.Yes, the East India Company features with its colonial exploits, from its opium-for-tea game with China to forced indigo farming in Bengal. The latter was not quite as horrific as slavery in the West, but the worldwide warts of capitalism’s rise serve to support Beckert’s big point that it was “extraordinarily statist.”Its big catalyst, though, was the Industrial Revolution, an “offspring” that harnessed energy and innovation to boost