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Here are some highlights – the full article is fantastic
This week’s New York Times brings news of a non-event that is still fit to print: global trade data just out confirm that the size of China’s economy now exceeds that of Japan’s, making China the largest economy in the world save one.It’s still a fit occasion, however, to pause and consider what this may mean for the world — especially because the average western business person may be assuming too little in that regard.
What they may not expect is that China’s increasing dominance will rewrite the rules of capitalism for everyone.
Note that the prevailing form of capitalism at any time is simply the form being practiced by the most capitalists.
As the center of gravity of global trade shifts toward China, the western style capitalism, with its heavy emphasis on free markets and private ownership, will no longer hold sway.
There are no such circumstances in the 21st century to compel the new number two economy, the challenger economy, to adopt the rules of the dominant one.
We read the news, we accept the fact that China is destined to be biggest. Yet most of us are not willing to see this shift as announcing that the rules of capitalism will evolve, ushering in an era of post-Western economics.
