Capitalism
Capitalism
Capitalism
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Abstract
Capitalism was designed as a mechanism for efficiently allocating scarce
resources, encouraging human ingenuity, and improving the quality of life for those
willing and able to participate in the system. This economic model has been
prodigiously effective at enabling people to convert natural resources into fungible
commodities and monetary wealth. By transmuting vast amounts of natural
resources into marketable products, capitalism has generated an unparalleled degree
of wealth and prosperity. In theory, the production of wealth and the collective
quality of life can be constantly enhanced under this economic model. Although
wealth accumulation has hitherto entailed the unsustainable depletion of natural
resources, capitalism maintains that when a commercially viable resource is
exhausted, the market will produce an alternative. Thus, capitalism is supposedly an
indefatigable method for perpetually generating more wealth and greater social
prosperity.
While capitalism has produced a plethora of socioeconomic benefits over
its relatively brief history, it has also instigated unforeseen and undesirable
consequences. With every product having a byproduct, our ability to extract and
consume an immense bounty of natural resources has generated a correspondingly
monstrous amount of waste in the form of physical garbage, atmospheric pollution,
and other forms of environmental degradation. Global climate change has been the
most severe consequence of our society’s excessive atmospheric pollution.
We now know that our primary method of generating energy – burning
fossil fuels – releases carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the
atmosphere, heating up the planet and severely altering the climate system.
Anthropogenic climate change poses an imminent threat to the planet’s life-
sustaining ecological systems, and it represents one of humanity’s most difficult
challenges to date. If humanity is to overcome this problem, we will need to place
strict, explicit limitations on the amount of atmospheric pollution that can be
emitted globally.
Since pollution is a direct consequence of consumption, we must also limit the
amount of resources we use. Any viable solution to climate change will therefore
require a global agreement to drastically inhibit the extraction, production, and
consumption of natural resources. Yet, the capitalist system as it currently stands is
neither designed for nor capable of consciously inhibiting its own propensity for
unsustainable growth. The basic assumptions under which neoliberal capitalism
operates renders it incapable of correcting climate change.
Author’s Note
As a student of environmental sustainability science, I am fascinated, and
admittedly frightened, by the complex issue of climate change. The climatic
challenge captivates me because it is inseparably linked to all aspects of our lives,
and has far reaching implications for every sphere of human society, yet it seems
that most people view it as an esoteric, abstract conundrum that is many degrees
removed from daily life. It is a problem that looms ominously over us, threatening
to irrevocably alter our natural and socially constructed systems. Still, very few
people are willing to admit that if we do not halt the unsustainable consumption
habits that have landed us in this predicament, nature will do it for us. To me, we
are at a momentous crossroad where we must decide whether to act by consciously
reducing our fossil fuel emissions and changing the way we evaluate our natural
resources, or to be acted upon and suffer the vengeance of the natural world. The
dominant capitalist economic model appears inherently incapable of reconciling the
discrepancy between our appraisal of natural resources and their actual value. It did
not take very long after I began studying climate change and other prevalent
environmental issues that I came to recognize the need for an economic paradigm
shift that would enable us to more accurately assess the value of our natural world.
This paper is my personal exploration of the failures of capitalism insofar as it
impacts climate change, and a small window into how we might best begin the
process of re-evaluating our relationship with (and our perception of) nature.
that has evolved to exist within a very specific set of environmental conditions might
be unfit for survival in the near future. Considering this unsettling reality, it is clear
that we must take immediate action to curtail and, if possible, halt climate-disrupting
greenhouse gas emissions.
given resource becomes scarce, the market will naturally produce an alternative. This
is founded on the idea that if there is a great enough demand for a product, price
signals will mobilize firms to meet that demand. Even when the resources required
to make the product are exhausted, the demand for the product will still exist,
therefore encouraging firms to innovate, and inevitably spurring the discovery of an
alternative resource or product to satisfy the unmet demand. The promise of an
inexhaustible well of human ingenuity, capable of overcoming any conceivable
scarcity of socially-desirable resources, ensures that capitalist economies will,
theoretically, never need to shrink or slow down.
on cost-benefit analyses, are not always more beneficial to society than they are
costly.
When we consider the cost-benefit methodology at a higher level than the
individual consumer, the consequences of miscalculation can be devastating.
Consider this anecdotal evidence of the potentially disastrous social ramifications of
decisions that hinge on the outcome of fallible cost-benefit analyses:
“Several years ago, states were in the middle of their litigation against tobacco
companies, seeking to recoup the medical expenditures they had incurred as
a result of smoking. At that time, W. Kip Viscusi - a professor of law and
economics at Harvard and the primary source of the current $ 6.3 million
estimate for the value of a statistical life - undertook research concluding that
states, in fact, saved money as the result of smoking by their citizens. Why?
Because they died early! They thus saved their states the trouble and expense
of providing nursing home care and other services associated with an aging
population. Viscusi didn't stop there. So great, under Viscusi's assumptions,
were the financial benefits to the states of their citizens' premature deaths
that, he suggested, "cigarette smoking should be subsidized rather than
taxed” (Ackerman & Heinzerling, 2002, p. 1).
investments that was supposed to result from the tax, it never materialized.
Investments in large-scale clean energy projects in the first six months of 2014 were
the lowest that they had been since 2001 (Levitan, 2014).
When Tony Abbott was elected Prime Minister of Australia, the fate of the
carbon tax was essentially sealed. Mr. Abbott was elected on the promise that he
would repeal the tax, which he deemed “useless” and “destructive.” Business leaders,
especially those in Australia’s gigantic coal industry, were vocal about their
opposition to the tax from its inception, claiming that it would destroy jobs and
cause electricity prices to soar. There was a slight rise in electricity rates over the time
that the tax was in place, though some have argued that it was the result of excessive
spending by energy companies, who were pouring money into unnecessary electricity
infrastructure projects. In spite of the equivocal effects that Australia’s carbon tax
had on electricity consumers, during his campaign Mr. Abbott claimed that repealing
the tax would save consumers roughly $520 (U.S.) a year. While the Prime Minister
has acknowledged that climate change is a serious issue, he maintains that solutions,
such as a carbon tax, should not “clobber the economy” (Baird, 2014).
Australia’s attempt at implementing an effective carbon tax that would lower
emissions failed because the economic cost outweighed the perceived environmental
benefits. According to the Institute for Energy Research, the lofty economic costs of
the carbon tax included: the loss of 80 jobs, a 16-19% increase in electricity rates, and
a net loss of $4.38 billion to the Australian government (Robson, 2013, p. 9). The
IER, which receives the majority of its funding from energy companies (Harkinson,
2009) and whose CEO doesn’t believe in anthropogenic climate change, is by no
means unbiased, and their numbers are highly inflated compared to other economic
analyses. For instance, the Financial Review estimated that the tax only contributed to
a 6% hike in electricity rates, and that it actually generated a net income for the
government (Minchin, Hopkin, 2014). Regardless, it does not really matter who was
right, or what the exact economic costs were, because we have no way of accurately
assessing the environmental benefits. Within the confines of capitalism, it is more
difficult to appraise the legitimate value of a stable climate than it is to determine the
true cost of a gallon of gasoline.
The value of Australia’s carbon tax was weighed in terms of new clean energy
investments, jobs, and estimated carbon dioxide emission reductions. Ironically, the
only category that offered any direct indication of how effective the carbon tax was
at mitigating climate change – emissions reduction – is also the only category that
cannot be expressed in a dollar amount. It is also the one category that appeared to
improve, if only slightly, from the tax. This further demonstrates the limits of cost-
benefit analysis in effective public policymaking.
Carbon dioxide emissions from Australia’s energy sector, which account for
roughly 75% of the national total, dropped by 1-2% while the tax was in place.
According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, Australia is responsible for less
than 1% of global carbon dioxide emissions, which means that its economy-
clobbering carbon tax reduced global atmospheric carbon dioxide pollution by about
a hundredth of a percent. When viewed through the lens of neoliberal capitalism,
which serves as the foundation of Australia’s mixed-market economy, which is also
heavily reliant on the energy sector, the costs of mitigating climate change will almost
always outweigh the benefits.
The problem is not necessarily inherent to the idea of carbon taxation itself,
but rather with the broader economic perspective that the tax is placed in. Regardless
of whether the IER’s assessment that carbon taxation cost Australia roughly $4
billion dollars is more accurate than the Financial Review’s estimate of roughly $6
billion is, there was nevertheless a staggering amount of money changing hands.
Regardless of how one looks at it, the carbon tax and the associative movement of
that money only accomplished a .01% decline in global carbon dioxide emissions.
In the context of neoliberal capitalism and cost-benefit analysis, mitigation is
a horrible investment because it does not offer a precise, quantifiable return. As
evidenced in Australia, when we demand that any possible solution to climate change
yield economic benefits, or at the very least, not come with any discernible economic
costs, we doom ourselves to failure. Economic growth is a function of population,
technology, and resource consumption, and climate change abatement ultimately
requires a dramatic reduction in the consumption of resources. Thus, these two goals
– economic growth and environmental sustainability – are at irreconcilable odds. As
long as we allow national and global climate change mitigation efforts to be dictated
by the capitalist dogma that the economic reward of any endeavor must outweigh the
costs, we will be utterly incapable of preventing or avoiding the catastrophic
consequences of climate change. Leaders, policy makers, and humanity as a whole
will have to accept the fact that there is simply no way to put a price tag on our
planet, or its life-sustaining climate system. Any and all attempts to do so will
inevitably prove to be insufficient and ultimately immoral.
Though capitalism itself may not be inherently immoral, it does have the
inclination to promote behaviors of dubious moral quality. Take, for example, the
assertion that limitless resource consumption is a virtuous pursuit, which will always
produce greater social prosperity. This premise of capitalism might very well hold
true if the world operated in the way that capitalist idealists assume it does. Capitalist
theory dictates that society need not worry about fossil fuel depletion, or that of any
finite resource, because the invisible hand of the market will inevitably conjure up a
viable alternative. If this assumption were true and there existed an inexhaustible well
of alternative resources and products, then the rate of resource consumption might
possibly correlate with increased social well-being. However, that is simply not the
reality of our situation. We live in a world of finite resources and, as incredible as the
power of human innovation has proven itself to be, even ingenuity has its limits. The
notion that any desirable resource can be replaced if the incentive is great enough is a
fallacious justification for indiscriminate consumption. There is simply no way to
replace clean air, potable water, or a stable, hospitable climate, nor can it be assumed
that man-made capital would be distributed equitably. There is an old Native
American proverb that exemplifies this moral critique of capitalist theory as it applies
to climate change. The saying goes: “We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors,
we borrow it from our children.” It is wrong to impoverish and pollute the planet’s
life sustaining natural resources and services, on the delusory assumption that future
generations will develop “alternatives” to the naturally occurring prerequisites for
survival. So long as we continue to propagate life, we have the moral obligation to
ensure that our children are born into a world that is capable of facilitating and
sustaining their existence.
environmentally friendly in order to meet the new demand. In this way, capitalism
will naturally phase-out dirty fuels, wasteful practices, and low-quality goods that
erroneously consume scarce resources, before permanent damage is done to the
environment.
Not only does Kahn argue that free-market capitalism is the best approach to
mitigating climate change, he also asserts that it is the best system for adapting to
climate change, because wealthier regions tend to weather the storm much more
effectively than poorer regions. When extreme weather events occur, wealthier areas
are less impacted and rebound much faster than poorer areas. Additionally, when
environmental disasters impact a region, capitalist economies are capable of sending
price signals to the market that disincentivze people from living in these hazardous
areas. For example, insurance companies raise their rates for people living in risk-
prone neighborhoods. This discourages habitation of these neighborhoods, and so
when disaster strikes, less damage is incurred. On the contrary, when the market is
not allowed to operate uninhibited and the government steps in to repair or protect
private property, it encourages more people to live in these areas because they feel
more artificially secure. Government intervention creates the illusion of protection,
but it is economic wealth, in Kahn’s opinion, that actually shields us from Mother
Nature’s violent outbursts. Kahn’s view, which is the archetypical capitalist
perspective, maintains that the role of government should be limited to providing
information regarding natural disasters to the public, such as hurricane and flood
warnings. The government need not coerce people to react to these warnings,
because if individuals have access to the information, they will respond appropriately.
Kahn’s viewpoint is relieving and palatable. It invokes that characteristically capitalist
optimism towards human ingenuity. It promises, as all persuasive capitalist
arguments do, that if we just continue to consume resources to our heart’s content,
we will create a future that is superior to the present in every conceivable way.
Mind indicates a burgeoning trend in the opposite direction. The survey found that
the percentage of Americans who do not believe in climate change, 23%, is swelling
rapidly, even as the number of people who are uncertain about climate change
shrinks. Among those who do believe in climate change and global warming, less
than half believe that is caused by human activities, and that number is declining
(Leiserowitz, et al., 2013, p. 5). If people do not believe in global warming, or do not
believe that their actions are affecting the climate, they will have absolutely no reason
to reduce their consumption of fossil fuels and other products that diminish the
quality of our environment.
This illuminating information is indicative of a growing degree of society-
wide ignorance towards the science of climate change, which is counterintuitive
considering that the international scientific community reached a consensus on this
subject nearly two decades ago. If American consumers were the rational actors that
Kahn and other avid proponents of capitalism considered them to be, their beliefs
and behaviors would reflect the scientific consensus on climate change. They would
realize that understanding the facts is in their best economic interest, and would
therefore seek out the truth, modeling their consumption habits accordingly. Kahn’s
assessment relies almost entirely on the notion that consumers behave this way, but
the evidence reveals, most assuredly, that they do not. The primary reason for this
stems from the perverted nature of supply and demand, and the resultant
dissemination of misinformation.
As mentioned previously, many suppliers generate a synthetic demand for
their products via marketing and advertising schemes. This fact is inherent to the
very essence of advertising. Advertising is the process of convincing people to buy a
product that they might not buy otherwise. Major ad campaigns almost universally
attempt to connect their product to something that is much more desirable. For
example, the new Coke cans and bottles have common names written on them, and
Coke commercials explicitly suggest that buying and sharing their products will
animate new platonic and romantic relationships. These campaigns attach their
product to a fundamental human desire for love and social connection. This
aggressive marketing tactic of associating low-quality, resource-intensive products
with actual human needs and wants manipulates consumers to purchase a product
based on unrealistic promises of satisfying a psychological longing, rather than on
the product’s actual utility. Potent examples of this phenomenon can be found nearly
everywhere in modern, capitalist societies.
By compelling people to buy products through playing on their unrelated,
often intangible desires, advertisers distort the actual demand for social goods. When
people are buying products that are mere representations of the things that they
actually need or want, suppliers are not really responding to the needs and wants of
society, and thus economic growth is failing to facilitate improved social prosperity.
Additionally, people’s consumption habits come to be based on illusory promises,
unattainable expectations, and irrational associations rather than their substantive
self-interests.
The information- and expectation-distorting nature of advertising helps to
explain why consumers are growing increasingly uneducated on the subject of
climate change. Although it is in every individual’s best interest to consume fewer
resources, specifically fossil fuels, so as not to contribute as much to the escalation of
climate change, the vast majority of information that we are bombarded with on a
production, and consumption of fossil fuels. The global demand for fossil fuels is a
function of the global population, and both categories are experiencing consistent
annual growth. Thus, as population grows, the subsequent demand for fossil fuels
grows, diminishing the total supply and jacking up the market value. Inevitably, the
fewer fossil fuels that are available, the more valuable they become. The irony is that,
the more economically valuable fossil fuels become as a consequence of increased
demand and reduced supply, the more imperative it will become for us not to
consume them. Unfortunately, that fact is unbeknownst to the free-market, and to
the majority of its participants.
This paper is not intended to vilify the fossil fuel industry or any other
industry; it is merely a critique of the capitalist system that has cultivated the
unproductive incentives for these industries to behave as they do. The systematic
incentivization to indefinitely exhaust scarce resources, which are assumed to be
replaceable upon depletion, inevitably ensures that unfettered capitalism will push us
to the brink of climate chaos and beyond.
interest, and a social responsibility, to provide people with the real facts of climate
change, and to set a course for remediation. The greatest strides that have been made
towards environmental protection and the abatement of global warming have been
initiated by government entities. One of the best examples of this can be found in
the national Clean Air Act, passed in 1970. Since 1980, this act has reduced sulfur
dioxide and nitrogen dioxide, both of which are harmful airborne pollutants, by 71%
and 46%, respectively (Union of Concerned Scientists, 2013). The CAA has also
forced commercial chlorofluorocarbons, which deteriorate the ozone layer, to be
phased out, thus facilitating a recovery of ozone molecules in the upper atmosphere.
If we were to allow the free-market to provide us with information that is
relevant to environmental protection and climate change without government
interference, we would be highly susceptible to adopting viewpoints that are skewed
by economic interests. Government involvement and regulation is necessary for
preserving the environment, as well as mitigating and adapting to climate change.
3. Conclusion
The heart of our pressing environmental woes is that capitalism is incapable
of accurately assessing and conveying the true value of natural resources. Within our
economic paradigm, it is irrational and undesirable not to extract and consume the
total global supply of fossil fuels because they are considered more valuable as a
commodity than as a benign, unemployed resource. Yet, in our environmental reality,
burning even a quarter of the available supply of fossil fuels would severely endanger
the survival of life on Earth as we know it, and thus we should strive to develop
clean, reliable, and renewable energy sources as soon as possible. It is a global issue
that will require global cooperation and coordination to resolve. It will require
sacrifices, and large scale changes to our social order. The honest truth is that it will
require a revolution. Not a violent, impassioned uprising, but rather a cool, well-
reasoned and intentional economic enlightenment. Capitalism was born from a
desire for liberty and prosperity. It freed people from the bonds of feudal oppression
and enabled us to lay a claim to our own destinies. Capitalism represents mankind’s
incredible ability to adapt to and overcome problems. With this tool we have
subdued the earth, and we have bent it to our will. But if we continue to employ this
powerful economic utensil, the comfortable world that we have shaped for ourselves
will snap under the strain. While we cannot deny our own tremendous talent for
overcoming obstacles and devising alternative solutions when forced to do so, we
also cannot ignore the wise words of Albert Einstein, who said: “We cannot solve
our problems with the same thinking we used to create them.” We live in a world
that is much different from the one that gave rise to capitalism. We are faced with a
much different set of problems than were the founders of the modern economic
system. They sought freedom to explore the world, to connect it through intricate
trade networks, to profit from its natural richness, and to protect those profits. They
were immensely successful, and the capitalist model has handsomely improved the
condition of humankind in innumerable ways. However, the solutions of the past
have produced the problems of the present, and in order to address them we will
have to look at the world through a new lens. We will have to design a method of
assigning value to the world that is capable of preserving that value long into the
future. Yet thinking alone cannot solve our climate conundrum; solutions will require
action. As a start, we must rapidly phase out fossil fuels and transition to a
renewable-energy based system. We will need to place immediate, globally-
enforceable restraints on the production and consumption of fossil fuels, among
other resources. We will definitely need to abandon our apparent obsession with
making money, because resolving climate change will not be a profitable venture. But
it will be truly invaluable, and somehow, some way, we will do it. The course that we
must pursue to overcome this prodigious planetary problem cannot be the same
course that led us to where we are today. The way to a brilliant, sustainable new
future certainly exists, but it does not lie down the beaten path of capitalism that we
currently tread.
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