Introduction to the Center

New ideas are the driving force on earth. The creation, development and adoption of good commercial ideas are the force behind high economic performance: not only high productivity, but also stimulation in business life and intellectual development gained from careers of problem solving. The central question before the Center on Capitalism & Society is what determines a country's ability to generate and select such ideas and thus achieve economic success.

There is evidence that the relatively capitalist economic systems found in the United States and a few other countries are relatively open to new commercial ideas in much the same way that democratic systems are open to new social policies. In contrast, the relatively corporatist systems found in continental Europe and east Asia are significantly less open. So although the Continental countries possess market economies — they abound in property rights, the rule of law and private ownership of business — markets alone appear not to be sufficient for economic dynamism. The difficulty we encounter is that there is no single capitalist model and no unique corporatist one either.

The Center's aim, therefore, must be to find the particular institutions that, in combination with some if not all other institutions, operate to restrict dynamism in much of the world and those institutions whose reform or replacement would inject the more capitalist economies with great dynamism. This research program will need, among other things, an applicable theory of capitalism in which the discovery of viable ideas is the crucial activity and in which novice and veteran entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and other financiers are key actors.