• AbouBenAdhem@lemmy.world
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    8 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.