What Went Wrong With Capitalism

Sharma stands apart because he is not ideologically driven in presenting a valuable analysis of the issues confronting capitalism. The result is a fresh and accessible contribution to the debates about our economic system that should be read and considered by all sides. – Robert Rubin, former US Secretary of the Treasury and chairman of CitigroupSharma’s new book offers an important perspective on capitalism from a global strategist. This book will reshape how you think about the world and is bound to provoke people on both the left and the right. – Lawrence H. Summers, former US Secretary of the TreasuryIn his timely and consequential book, Ruchir Sharma chronicles the government bailouts, interventions, and machinations that have brought the West to this hinge point in history. His message to policymakers: Try capitalism, the real kind. – Kevin Warsh, former US Federal Reserve Board GovernorWhat Went Wrong With Capitalism is a plea for government sanity, for true competition, and against crony capitalism, it is exactly the message our world needs to hear. I am not sure there will be a more correct book this year. – Tyler Cowen, the Holbert L. Harris Chair of Economics at George Mason University and co-author of the Marginal Revolution blogA blunt broadside against the welfare state of finance. It will make the right kind of enemies. – James Grant, founder and editor * Grant’s Interest Rate Observer *At a moment at which democracy and free markets are under intense challenge all over the world, we are lucky that the brilliant and incomparable Ruchir Sharma has brought us a characteristically original and provocative book that tells us how to understand the ways that capitalism is falling badly short. Everyone should read, absorb and debate Sharma’s wise arguments – Michael BeschlossBrilliant … As Ruchir Sharma argues in his brilliant new book, ‘Because the EU lacks the power to tax and spend directly … it has turned itself into a pure regulatory state … issuing rules and regulations at an exponential pace.’ – Matthew Lynn * Daily Telegraph *What ails capitalism, in Mr. Sharma’s argument, is government largess specifically in the form of bailouts, tax favors and loose monetary policies that keep companies flush with cash … his analysis of the Federal Reserve’s easy-money policy over the past four decades is trenchant and timely. – Barton Swaim * Financial Times, Books of the Year *

Ruchir Sharma is chairman of Rockefeller International and founder of Breakout Capital, a global investment firm. He moved to Rockefeller in 2022 after 25 years at Morgan Stanley Investment Management, where he was head of emerging markets and chief global strategist. Based in New York, he is a columnist at the Financial Times and a former contributing opinion writer at The New York Times. He is the author of four books, including the international bestseller Breakout Nations and the New York Times bestseller The Rise and Fall of Nations.