Theresa May, the revolutionary?
The new British PM is causing a stir:
Sometimes it’s useful to put symbolic dates on when a different era begins. The end of Thatcherism, it could be argued, came on July 10 in the then PM-candidate speech by Theresa May. It was perhaps appropriate that another woman, a Tory Prime Minister, would be credited with the ending of Thatcherism. The key words, which immediately attracted attention (see also Philip Stevens in today’s “Financial Times”) were not those about inequality (which has become a common place these days) but about the changes in the internal structure of capitalism: reintroduction of workers’ and consumers’ representatives on management boards, limits on the executive pay, reduction of job insecurity for the young people and much greater access to top jobs for those coming from less privileged backgrounds.
For the first time since the late 1970s (at the top level of policy-making), we are back to the issues of reforms in the way capitalism functions rather than discussing the ways in which the external environment would be made more market friendly. In essence, this is a confession that “civilizing” capitalism cannot be done only “externally” by relying on the “harmony of private interests” but that the state has a bigger role that goes beyond ensuring the protection of property rights, taxation and redistribution.
globalinequality: The forthcoming changes in capitalism?
We think she's onto something, why?
- The past four decades have shown wages are stagnating and greatly lagging productivity growth and most of the gains have gone to a small top (the 0.01%)
- The reasons have less to do with trade, and more to do with the internal workings of capitalism (for instance, the sole pursuit of shareholder value), as May is now acknowledging, a pretty brave stance for a Conservative politician.
- It is important not to throw the baby with the bathwater and to engage in a dispassionate approach, looking at the facts and the results of different institutional settings around the world how capitalism can work better for more people.