Review by Choice Review
This handbook consists of 18 contributions written individually and in some cases collaboratively by 22 authors, primarily distinguished senior faculty, as well as an introduction by editor Mueller (emer., Univ. of Vienna, Austria). It addresses what is right and wrong about modern capitalism from a variety of perspectives, which in the aggregate provide a balanced view of its strengths and weaknesses. Contributions are organized into six sections. Three articles in section one describe historical, institutional, legal, and political developments contributing to capitalism's emergence as a worldwide phenomenon. Two articles in section two report that not all forms of capitalism contribute equally to economic progress and note the importance of nurturing innovation. Finance, property rights, corporate enterprise, and contracts are treated in the third. The fourth section deals with problem areas such as the balance between public and private sectors, executive compensation, the separation of capital ownership from its management, and asset-price bubbles. Section five examines the degree of dispersion of capital ownership and various forms of capitalism. The final chapter, by Nobel Prize-winner Edmund Phelps, considers reforms designed to address capitalism's deficiencies. See Allan Meltzer's recent Why Capitalism? (CH, Sep'12, 50-0401). Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduate students through faculty and researchers. E. L. Whalen formerly, Clarke College
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review