• AbouBenAdhem@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      10
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      edit-2
      28 days ago

      I haven’t yet expressed an opinion on capitalism, except to say that the features you’ve mentioned have little to do with it.

      But to answer your original question: capitalism stricto sensu is when the profits and decision-making power in a firm are vested in those who put up the original financial capital. It incentivizes financial risk-taking, which (depending on economic conditions) can be useful or destructive. But the only merits it rewards are the possession of pre-existing wealth, the willingness to take risks with it, and luck. Nepotism and cronyism serve its ends by providing a source of wealth for new capitalists, and an outlet for successful capitalists to convert their gains into social rewards.