The Dawn of Asia

Abstract

Whatever country we look at, we find that in ancient times the imperial or royal family was dominant in economic terms, while the economy of the common people was so weak that it could be virtually disregarded. Over time the royal economy was first of all rationalized, and then consciously operated along capitalist lines. This led to the appearance of countries of capitalism from above in which political power played an important role. In colonies such as America and Canada, however, the colonies themselves had long lacked any great influence, and the colonists, who had no political power, worked to build up their own private economies. This led to the formation of a macro economy characterized by mutual competition between a large number of private enterprises, i.e. capitalism from below. Looking at the main industrial countries now such as those belonging to G.7 or G.8, it is only America and Canada that can be characterized in this way. For a country of capitalism from above to make the transition to becoming one of capitalism from below, there has to be a democratic tradition that will protect these small private economies. Only Britain has that kind of long democratic tradition. Britain early on created a structure that would limit the economic activities of the royal family in the form of a parliament, and its macro-economy was soon successful in making the transition to capitalism from below.