The Origins and Evolution of Consumer Capitalism

A Veblenian-Keynesian Perspective

John P. Watkins

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2023
• eBook ISBN: 9780429813054
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Economics
• Subtopic: Economic Theory
• Index: Economics

Consumer capitalism arose with the second industrial revolution, the application of continuous-mass production to consumer goods during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This book adopts a Veblenian, Keynesian viewpoint, presenting an evolutionary view of consumption combined with the need to increase demand to match increases in production. The book traces the history of consumer capitalism, examining the paradox posed by applying continuous-mass production to produce armaments for dynastic ambitions versus consumer goods for the masses, manifesting itself in the world wars of the twentieth century. Multiple paradoxes at the heart of the story address booms leading to busts, over-producing countries in Asia relying on over-consuming countries in the West, and the expansion of demand depending on increasingly inventive ways of liquefying assets, in light of stagnant incomes. The book persuasively argues that these paradoxes result from capitalism's incessant drive to accumulate capital, fostering conflict, crises, and depression. The latest paradox results from the impact of continuous-mass production on the environment, manifesting itself as the Darwinian dilemma. The dilemma stems from human beings largely winning the struggle for existence and, in the process, possibly making the earth uninhabitable, at least for humans.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Endorsement Page
• Half Title
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication Page
• Table of Contents
• List of figures
• List of tables
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• 1 The Origins and Paradoxes of Consumer Capitalism
• 2 Toward an Evolutionary Theory of Consumer Capitalism: Thorstein Veblen and John Maynard Keynes
• 3 Continuous-Mass Production and the Rise of the Modern Corporation
• 4 How to Absorb the Output? Consumerism versus Militarism: Veblen, Hobson, and Polanyi
• 5 Keynes and The Great Depression: “Poverty in the Midst of Plenty”
• 6 The Myopic Consumer and the Rational Economist: The Institutional Pattern of Consumption and Theories of Consumer Choice
• 7 The Liquefication of Everything: Corporate Power and the Evolution of Consumer Credit
• 8 America’s Perpetual Trade Deficit
• 9 The Great Financial Crisis—A Test of Two Models: Minsky’s Financial Instability Hypothesis and the Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium Model
• 10 Overcoming the Limits of the Private-Domestic Economy: Quantitative Easing versus Modern Monetary Theory
• 11 The Darwinian Dilemma: Winning the Struggle, Making the World Uninhabitable?
• 12 The Civilization of Consumer Capitalism
• Index