Author Archive

Martin Lausegger

Martin holds an MPhil in European Politics (St Antony’s College, University of Oxford) and a BSc in Management (University of Warwick). He gathered professional work experience in the private and public sector and aims to create understanding at the intersection of business, politics and government."

As Joseph Schumpeter already pointed out in 1942’s Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy “dealing with capitalism, we are dealing with an evolutionary process.” The question is in what direction is this process heading? Is the rising power and capital accumulation of FAMGA (Facebook, Apple, Microsoft, Google, Amazon) together with advances in block chains and artificial intelligence leading to the concentration of wealth in ever fewer hands, obsolescence of manual labour and even the destruction of capitalism, as Karl Marx believed in the 19th century? Or, do technological progress and innovation lead to reduced inequality and higher prosperity? Before talking about the future, its key to review the past of capitalism. Technological progress during the Industrial Revolution of the late 18th and early …