Debating the future of capitalism in post-industrial and emerging economies

Abstract

The author discusses examples of literature about the end of capitalism, but argues they miss a crucial aspect – despite its current uncertainty, capitalism is not showing signs of destroying itself. In fact it has shifted into a new and highly predatory phase. The Covid-19 pandemic has ushered in the largest world economic crisis since the Great Depression in the 1930s. The pandemic intensifies long existing features related to inequality and environmental degradation that mark the capitalist economic system.