Capitalism, Crisis, and a Zombie Named TINA

Abstract

The financial crash that hit in September 2008 was more than a downturn in the business cycle. It was a ‘crisis of capitalism – a much rarer event, potentially giving rise to new politics, policies, and even the reorganization of capitalist economies’ (Gamble, 2009a, p. 7). This chapter explores the implications of this crisis for the political economies of America and Britain. Has this crisis of capitalism led to a fundamental transformation of Anglo-American capitalism? After a brief tour of the Anglo-American model of capitalism, the causes of the crisis and the major policy responses of both states are reviewed. Surprisingly, the neoliberal growth model has (so far) largely survived this crisis intact. More than anything else, the liberal model seems set to survive because no viable alternative growth model has been advanced by a political coalition with realistic electoral prospects.