Tomorrow’s Capitalism: Growth After the Financial Crisis

Synopsis

Audio recording of a talk given by Carlota Perez at the Institute for Public Policy Research on 1 June 2009.The financial crisis and deep global recession not only caught many by surprise, but also leaves most of us very uncertain about the future. Numerous analyses of what went wrong with the governance of finance over the last 25 years are now appearing, but few if any give a convincing account of what happens next. Perhaps uniquely amongst analysts of capitalism, Carolta Perez, offers a framework that not only places the current financial meltdown in an historical perspective going back 300 years, but also holds out the possibility that we may actually about to enter a new ‘golden age’ of equitable and productive growth.

Perez’s book ‘Technological Revolutions and Financial Capital: the Dynamics of Bubbles and Golden Ages’ describes the ways in which successive surges of new technologies have transformed not only the economy but also its social institutions, and the crucial role of financial capital in those surges. Each surge has historically followed a pattern of technology emergence and explosive growth, leading to a period of financial frenzy, crisis and then a more steady period of deployment. The Wall Street Crash, Great Depression and post-war Golden Age can all be seen as part of the great surge associated with the age of oil, automobiles and mass production.

The current surge, dating from the early 1970s and based on ICT and the Internet, has now hit the crisis stage. How easily and quickly we can move on to a phase of more sustainable deployment and growth depends crucially on reforms in finance as well as in wider institutions and policies, including those needed for a more environmentally sustainable growth.

Language

English

Country

Great Britain

Subjects

Economics; History

Keywords

economic forecasting; financial issues; economic history; economic crisis

Online availability

URI

http://www.ippr.org.uk/events/archive.asp?id=3459&fID=259

Price

free

Delivery

Download

Credits

Contributor

Carlota Perez

Distributor

Name

Institute for Public Policy Research

Email

m.jackson@ippr.org

Web

http://www.ippr.org.uk/ External site opens in new window

Phone

020 7470 6100

Fax

020 7470 6111

Address

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Covent Garden
London
WC2E 7RA