Rethinking Capitalism (ReCap) Webinar Series

The Future of Capitalism: Facing the New Anxieties

by Paul Collier (Blavatnik School of Government)

Event Summary

Deep new rifts are tearing apart the fabric of the Western societies: thriving cities versus rural counties, the highly skilled elite versus the less educated, wealthy versus developing countries. As these divides deepen, we have lost the sense of ethical obligation to others that was crucial to the rise of post-war social democracy. So far these rifts have been answered only by the revivalist ideologies of populism and socialism, leading to the seismic upheavals of Trump, Brexit, and the return of the far-right in many Western countries. The way out to this crisis can only be an ethical healing of the economic, social and cultural divides. The ethical State, the ethical Firm, the ethical Family, and the ethical World is what is needed to save capitalism from itself.