"Actually existing capitalism" or "really existing capitalism" is an ironic term used by critics of

capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, price system, private ...

and

neoliberalism Neoliberalism (also neo-liberalism) is a term used to signify the late 20th century political reappearance of 19th-century ideas associated with free-market capitalism after it fell into decline following the Second World War. A prominent f ...

. The term is used to claim that many economies purportedly practicing capitalism (an economic system characterized by a ''

laissez-faire ''Laissez-faire'' ( ; from french: laissez faire , ) is an economic system in which transactions between private groups of people are free from any form of economic interventionism (such as subsidies) deriving from special interest groups ...

free-market In economics, a free market is an economic system in which the prices of goods and services are determined by supply and demand expressed by sellers and buyers. Such markets, as modeled, operate without the intervention of government or any ot ...

system) actually have significant state intervention and partnerships between private industry and the state.Sayers, Sean (1998). ''Marxism and Human Nature''. Routledge. p. 105. It is a play on the term

actually existing socialism Real socialism, better known as actually existing socialism or developed socialism (), was an ideological catchphrase popularized during the Brezhnev era in the Eastern Bloc countries and the Soviet Union.

. The term ''

mixed economy A mixed economy is variously defined as an economic system blending elements of a market economy with elements of a planned economy, markets with state interventionism, or private enterprise with public enterprise. Common to all mixed economie ...

'' is also used to describe economies with these attributes. The term seeks to point out discrepancy between capitalism as normally defined and what is labelled as capitalism in practice and to claim that (1) capitalism as defined does not and will not exist and (2) actually existing capitalism is undesirable. The term is used as a response to the economic doctrines that have dominated western economic thought throughout the neoliberal period. Critics point to the use of regulation to avoiding economic problems such as acute

commodities In economics, a commodity is an economic good, usually a resource, that has full or substantial fungibility: that is, the market treats instances of the good as equivalent or nearly so with no regard to who produced them. The price of a co ...

fluctuations, financial market crashes,

monopolies A monopoly (from Greek el, μόνος, mónos, single, alone, label=none and el, πωλεῖν, pōleîn, to sell, label=none), as described by Irving Fisher, is a market with the "absence of competition", creating a situation where a speci ...

and extensive environmental damage as examples of how capitalism as defined does not match actually existing capitalist economic systems. Specifically, the term is primarily directed at the

Austrian School The Austrian School is a heterodox school of economic thought that advocates strict adherence to methodological individualism, the concept that social phenomena result exclusively from the motivations and actions of individuals. Austrian scho ...

or the

Chicago school of economics The Chicago school of economics is a neoclassical school of economic thought associated with the work of the faculty at the University of Chicago, some of whom have constructed and popularized its principles. Milton Friedman and George Stig ...

as these are economic schools of thought that strongly advocate for capitalist systems.

References

{{reflist Capitalism Liberalism Criticism of capitalism

See also

References