Thomas Piketty’s ‘patrimonial capitalism’ of the twenty-first century: political economy rediscovered or how to tame the beast?

• Authors: Jędrzejowska-Schiffauer Izabela
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

The core of market economy is misconceived when it is construed purely in economic terms (cf. Breuer 1999: 8). The purpose of this article is to hint at some possible alternative paths of deliberating the concept of capitalism which would not be dominated by classical economic paradigm. While recognising the multiple faces of capitalism stemming amongst others from historical, geo-political, ideological and even economic variables, the author conceives of contemporary capitalism in terms of a sum total of certain macro-features which differentiate this economic model from centrally-planned economies. The point of departure for the developed argumentation is the main trend recognisable in the recent decades (end of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st century) which consists in accumulation of primarily hereditary capital in the hands of the few, which phenomenon is referred to by Thomas Piketty as “patrimonial” capitalism. Since that development results in a limited or no opportunity of the majority of the world population to accrue wealth through their work, a question arises whether such economic system may be regarded as legitimate. In this context the author attempts to shed some light on the potentials and limits of the role of national, transnational and /or international governance to mitigate the negative impact of the unabashed divergence forces observable in the contemporary economy. The overall conclusion of the paper is that, however reluctant the national authorities may be to see further intervention of transnational and international entities in the organisation of global economy, it is necessary if the healthy foundations of the global market are ever to be achieved and as long as long as the states remain idle themselves.

Keywords

EN

patrimonial capitalism; market economy; legitimacy; political economy; regulatory measures

• Publisher: Wyższa Szkoła Bankowa we Wrocławiu
• Journal: Central and Eastern European Journal of Management and Economics (CEEJME)
• Year: 2015
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 85-95

Dates

online

2015-03-01

Contributors

author

Jędrzejowska-Schiffauer Izabela

• Wrocław School of Banking

References

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Identifiers

ISSN

2353 - 9119