• @AbouBenAdhem@lemmy.world
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      313 hours ago

      The better product; the greater amount of production; the higher efficiency

      Every economic system claims to be able to deliver those goals.

      But what you’re describing is more a general free-market economy than capitalism proper. The former determines how companies interact with consumers and each other; the later determines how power and profits are distributed within a company.

        • @AbouBenAdhem@lemmy.world
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          11 hours ago

          I haven’t yet expressed an opinion on capitalism, except to say that the features you’ve mentioned have little to do with it.

          But to answer your original question: capitalism stricto sensu is when the profits and decision-making power in a firm are vested in those who put up the original financial capital. It incentivizes financial risk-taking, which depending on economic conditions can be useful or destructive. But the only merits it rewards are the possession of pre-existing wealth, the willingness to take risks with it, and luck. Nepotism and cronyism serve its ends by providing a source of wealth for new capitalists, and an outlet for successful capitalists to convert their gains into social rewards.