Is Capitalism Not Good Enough?

Abstract

Abstract The core features of contemporary democratic socialist proposals are public ownership of firms and economic democracy. To fully and fairly assess democratic socialism’s desirability, we need to compare it to the best version of capitalism that humans have devised: social democratic capitalism, or what is often called the Nordic model. Social democratic capitalism features a capitalist economy, a democratic political system, good elementary and secondary schooling, a big welfare state, employment-conducive public services (childcare, job training, and others), and moderate regulation of product and labor markets. This introductory chapter offers preliminary evidence that capitalism, and particularly social democratic capitalism, is better than many democratic socialists seem to think.