Capitalism: obituary and resurrection

Abstract Despite its structural flaws and excesses, its regularly prophesized demise and foretold death, capitalism has remained predominant worldwide because under the appropriate institutional framework it offers the most viable path for optimal industrial upgrading, structural transformation, and economic development. In this article, I discuss a particular vulnerability of capitalism, that is, its high propensity to produce major risks, which exacerbates inequality and social tensions. I analyse the differential set of risk-coping options between poor households and non-poor. I then focus on African versions of capitalism, which reflect the peculiar historicity of the continent, marked by centuries of foreign domination, pervasive violence, randomness in economic policy-making, and power struggles not arbitrated by constitutional or legal means. I highlight the root causes of the distorted, extraverted, and largely ineffective forms of capitalism in vogue in Africa and suggest a policy framework for resurrecting capitalism.