1. Moral Underpinnings of
Capitalism
Alan Štefanac
alan.stefanac@gmail.com
April 30th, 2014
Presentation for Quick Expert Challenge – DMP Challenge 2014

2. Presentation Summary
 The birth of capitalism
 Economic turbulence of the 20th century
 Rise and fall of the global economy
 Global wealth polarization problem
 Global challenges and economic impacts
 Future development of capitalism
 Renaissance of the modern public sector
 Influential individuals are today’s reformers
 Technology beyond our imagination
 Economic impact on the environment
 Personal contribution to our future

3. The birth of capitalism
 Since the beginning of human civilization, people were trading
with basic trading goods (factors of production)
 land, labor, capital
 Development of printing machine and human colonization of
„new world” forever changed history of mankind
 Further trade development required new systematization
 Commodity money eventually evolved to monetary money
 Authorities regulated all aspects of business life, from
private ownership to trading and fiscal systems
 Capitalism was recognized as a social system where
„invisible hand” manages with supply and demand for goods
 The roots of first exchange are recognizable since 1300s (Venice)
 The first stock exchange is from Antwerp from 1531
 Industrial revolution was the peak of conservative capitalism where the capital owners were „money
Gods”, and labor workers were just „spendable resources”
 The clash between wealth and poor societies was later defined as continues battle between workers and capital
owners which continues till nowadays...
 Capitalism emphasis individual collection of profit, rather than equal profit distribution between workers like
socialism
Adam Smith (1723 – 1790)
„Father of capitalism”
Like gravity law, supply and demand are guided with some invisible force. Adam
Smith
Adam Smith – Wealth of Nations
Milton Friedman – Capitalism and Freedom

4. Economic turbulance of the 20th century
Historia Est Magistra Vitae! – Cicero
Economic history is repeating and unfortunatelly the consequences are the same.
 The last century was the period of significant prosperity
as well as enormous suffer of whole mankind*
 Global economies experienced global declines during
„Great depression” in 30’s, „oil crisis” in 70’s,
ex Soviet countries „transition adjustments” in 90’, and „lost decade”
like Japan are representing some significant economic crisis during last century
 Enormous global economic downturns were followed by high
unemployment rate even in the most successful economies
 Business cycles and downturns in market economies became „normal”
situations, but different respond measures became subject of debate
 Capitalism developed in two major labels - conservative or Keynesian’s economics,
neoliberalism or Hayek’s economics
 Second half of 20st century was marked by idealistic epic struggle between capitalism and
socialism
 However, late 80’s showed that socialism as economic system wasn’t sustainable in long term, and by mid of
90’s capitalism became the dominant economic system
 Side-effects of capitalism booms and busts showed increasing doubts over sustainability of current capitalism
economic system – liberality shouldn't cause higher inequality**
„Great depression” and unemployment*
started 29th Oct 1929
* Data taken from US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Adam Smith Institute, Forbes, CPMG, Delloite
** Thomas Picketty – Capital in Twenty-First century

5. Rise and fall of the global economy
 After the fall of the Eastern Bloc, free market become economic guide for
the most of global economies
 Institutions such as WB, IMF, WTO, FAOUN, and many others become the basis of
modern global economic systems
 Foreign direct investments became important as natural resources, and the main capital flow
directions was to emerging countries (64% of total global FDI) - $723 bn a year from 2009 to 2012
 Basic labor work force was replaced with high technology, which increased efficiency and optimized
production processes – the „new economy”
 Stock exchanges experienced rapid growth, which caused several bubble busts in the last
decade
 Financial markets growth exceeded the growth of real economy, which created huge disproportion between
real and market expectation (historically low CB interest rates didn’t pull the trigger of real economy recovery)
 Debate about impact of monetary policy measures on real economy, due to slow recovery of labor and
household markets, but incredible growth of leading stock indexes by 170% since 2009*
 Early warning signals should prevent global financial crisis such as Dot.com crisis, global financial crisis,
sovereign-debt crisis (PIGS*), etc., but unfortunately signals are not interpreted correctly
 The greed for extra profits and competition between the biggest financial players created
environment where some of them became „to big to fail”
 Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch and many other large financial institutions failed, and at the same time dozens
received huge financial aid from public funds (AIG) but their behavior haven’t change dramatically compared to
précises period (managers’ bonuses, risk exposures, regulatory affairs, etc.) – all of that caused the question of
moral hazard
• The Economist, Aug 2010; S&P500; NASDAQ;
• Thomas Pikketty – Capital in Twenty-First Century
McKinsey Global Institute – Report QE and Ultra Low Interest Rates
Globalization showed that neoliberal capitalism was allowing economic boiling and melting down of all
global and local markets due to the hunger for extra profits

6. Global wealth polarization problem
 Huge disproportion of regional and personal wealth distribution is decreasing, so today more
than 1.2 bn people are living in extreme penury with income below $1.25 per day
 Total global wealth rose by 113% from 2000 to 2013, but that only increased concentration of wealth inside
North America and Europe, although India and China exceeded that growth
 In the same period Europe and North America increased it’s households wealth by 100%, but even higher growth
was made in India (211%) and China (376%)
 Although Africa has 14,6% of total population, their total wealth is representing only 1,13% of total global
wealth
 Net worth per adult increased by 68% from 2000 till 2013, but still wealth problems remain the same
*Credit Suisse Research 2012, 2013, Gini coefficient – WB
**Wealth is defined as sum of non financial assets, financial assets and debt
Global wealth reached the highest historical level of total USD 241 trillion in 2013 despite setback in
2008, but wealth distribution became more disproportionate

7. Global challenges and economic impacts
 Society is going through strong changes everywhere in the world
 Local social movements are becoming global phenomenon (Occupy Wall Street, Arab Spring, social networks, social
protests in EU, etc.)
 Internet revolution is providing global access to knowledge and information
 In 2013 the number of Internet users was estimated to 39% of total global population (developed countries 77%,
developing countries 31%)
 Social networks became a global phenomenon with enormous social as well as economic impact (number of users of top
15 social networks reached 32% of total global population in 2014)
 The world is living in the real time environment and censorship became almost impossible even in autocratic societies
where people started seeking democratic and liberal changes of societies
 Transformation of the energy landscape is becoming more suitable to new climate and
environmental
 Climate and energy policies are seeking for more sustainable, effective, and secure energy solutions
 EU target till 2030 is to reduce its carbon emissions below 40% of levels from 1990, increase renewable energy to 27% till
2030
 Current energy vulnerability to energy supply disruptions and price increases is harming businesses and economic
competitiveness
 Health care, taxation, regulation, legislation and other reforms are replacing old systems with
new ones
 PPACA, TARP, Basel III, ESM, CRD, ACTA, and etc.
Ongoing social, political and technological revolutions and changes are re-shaping economic systems
• EC - 2030 climate and energy goals for a competitive, secure and low-carbon EU economy, IP 14/54
• Thomas Pikketty – Capital in Twenty-First Century; McKinsey Global Institute – Report QE and Ultra Low
Interest Rates; No of Social Media Users – Alexa; International Telecommunication Union

8. Future development of capitalism
Like every system, capitalism has to evolve during some time. Where it’s going to develop that’s the
question, but if the goals are clear than the future development is more certain.
• Thomas Pikketty – Capital in Twenty-First Century
• Credit Suisse Research 2012, 2013
 Transformation of capitalism has to include all current socio-economic changes in order to
correct any problem that was caused by previous or current defects
 Wide reforms should include all sectors, and their main goal should be directed towards more equal world
wealth distribution and environment preservation
 Highlighted changes will be made inside public sector, contribution of influential individuals, rapid technology
improvement and innovation, environment solutions, and our personal future contribution.
 The economic system should become the engine of corporate, as well as social, prosperity

9. Renaissance of the modern public sector
 The transformation of the public sector will start due to changes inside the real sector
 Due to development of ICT the governments will be required to expend the services of e-government and other public
services connected with the Internet services
 New public sector will encourage public management to proceed with decentralization, setting real objectives,
cooperation between public agencies and real sector, develop new standards against corruption and realized that the
main value of further progress is inside human resources
 Regulators should implement the best business practices
and monitor potential negative shocks
 Establishment and strengthening of independent global and regional
regulatories in order to prevent future negative impacts of some disorders
 Technological innovation will allow quick regulatory adaptation on new
economic conditions and policy changes
 Public investments are expected to increase in future,
due to technical requirements and needs of modern business
 Investments will include communication infrastructure, software,
energy infrastructure, research and development facilities, etc.
 One of the biggest investments should be made in human resources,
due to growing needs for efficient public management
 Changes inside taxation systems will put focus on the taxation
of rent or pollution, rather than focus on taxation of labor or
consumption
Bureaucracy and regulators should take in consideration global environment of modern businesses,
so their restrictions and work must change focus from local to global aspects
• World Bank: Public Sector Reform: What works and why?
• Thomas Pikketty – Capital in Twenty-First Century
• EC: Powering European Public Sector Innovation: Towards A New Architecture
Idealistic „open government”

10. Influential individuals are today’s reformers
 Some of the richest persons in the world are the biggest
philanthropist
 Bill Gates and Melinda
 Warren E. Buffett
 George Soros
 The Giving Pledge is campaign which encourage the wealthiest
people in the world to donate 50% or more of their wealth to
charity
 Not only the richest people on the planet can make
differences
 Barack Obama
 Albert Arnold „Al” Gore
 Angela Merkel
 Hillary Clinton
 “If you’re in the luckiest one per cent of humanity, you
owe it to the rest of humanity to think about the other 99
per cent.” W.Buffett
If you show people the problems and you show people the solutions they will be moved to
act. – Bill Gates
Bill Gates, 1955 – present,
cofounder of Microsoft
Warren Buffet, 1930 – present,
The most successful investor
of the 20th century
Givingpledge – charity fund funded by Bill and Melinda Gates
NyTimes, Forbes, The Economist

11. Technology beyond our imagination
 Technology innovation is became essential business pattern
 The price of transistor decreased more than 512 times, and speed
exponential growth more than 9.015*E15
 One Google search uses the computing power of entire Apollo
space mission
 Technology is changing everyday decisions making, production
process, products (3D printers)
 Purchasing and implementation costs are increasing, but operation
costs are dramatically decreasing (more than 70%)
 Data driven businesses and economy are followed with cloud
technology
 Implementation of new high technology everywhere and anywhere
in the world is allowing us to call modern economy „smart world”
 SME which are placing their businesses online are growing twice
faster than those without internet environment*
 Technology is reshaping our economic environment, and by that
directly changing the systems basic requirements (regulation
restrictions, operation costs, markets, etc.)
The only produced good, which became essential part of our life, and since the beginning is increasing
speed, quality and at the same time decreasing price is transistor.*
-
100
200
300
400
500
600
1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020 2030
Production costs of RAM microchips in current
USD
Costs of RAM
*Moor’s Law – speed and quality of transistor production
MIT technology reports, Google Loon project, The Economists. Intel reports
KPMG – Technology Industry Survey 2013, A.T. Kearney – Rebooting Europe’s High-Tech Industry
Google’s project Loon –
„Global Interent Access”

12. Economic impact on the environment
 Impacts of global warming must be reduced due to sustainable economic growth
 UN and EU are setting global strategic guidelines and directives in order to prevent devastating environment
exploitation caused by fast moving capital from multinational corporations or individuals
 Kyoto protocol showed first real intention of reducing overall emission by 5,2% from their 1990 levels by the
end of 2012
 Find the common global policy instruments which will enable sustainable control over gas emission (either cap
trading systems, carbon taxes, or some other international instrument)
 Capitalism is looking the ways of environment conservation
 Implementation of new innovative technology, recycling materials usage,
improving energy efficiency, will reduce the Greenhouse effect and
prevent overheating Earth’s surface
 Impacts of global warming must be reduced due to sustainable
future economic growth
 Waste, gas emissions, energy unefficiency, caused by
industry and urbanization, must be overcome by
reasonable usage in order to prevent high
 Today temperature increased for 2˚C above
pre-industrial average temperature
Environment and climate changes were caused mainly by intensive economic development, and in the
future, economic systems needs to find formula for sustainable growth.
UNEP – Global Environment Outlook 2012
EEA – Environmental Indicator Report 2013

13. Personal contribution to our future
 Future economic development is in the hands of young generations
 Increasing accessibility of information and internet connection is providing
unimaginable potential for further economic and social development
 Constant socio-economic changes are forcing us to make adaptation in order
to improve the environment where we live in
 High education should learn us about moral obligation, equality, justice, and
personal contribution to our planet
 More understanding between different nations will create global dialogue
 National policy will be influenced by global individual awareness and economic
connections which will lead to global peace due to new socio-economic
environment
 Personal contribution in further development of capitalism will result as our
internal moral and ethical development as whole humanity
 High technology will prevent large scale of frauds, optimize our work and change
our view of the planet
„Be the change you want to see in this world” - Gandhi
Steve Jobs, 1955 – 2011,
Inovator and entrepreneur;
„Let’s invent tomorrow, rather than
worrying about what happened
yesterday!”

14. Questions and Answers
Economic systems will change due to ongoing social, technological,
environmental and corporate changes. All of these changes
will include new ethical and moral elements which will re-shape current
capitalism systems.