History of Capitalism
Humankind has evolved in many ways.
The basic reason for this evolution has been the non-stop urge for more.
Innovation has helped humankind to facilitate living and increase the standard of living too.
Capitalism has served the same purpose.
It was by the way of capitalism that a major part of the population was able to earn higher wages and increase the standard of living.
Capitalism has a long history.
This history has some positives and some negatives based on the viewpoints of the various sections of the society.
Capitalism benefited the lower class by increasing their incomes, but at the same time, it reduced the power of the upper class and the state.
The benefits that could be enjoyed only by the landed gentry were now also being enjoyed by the poor and the landless.
There were rebellions and resentments among both the sections but still capitalism has emerged as a major economic system and it has been followed till date in many of the economies.
Capitalism took many forms and has evolved itself.
Capitalism is based on the fact that the wealth of the people increased with time.
Capitalism took so many forms according to the changes in the world.
There is still no consensus of the chronological trend of capitalism, but a major outline of general states of capitalism has been defined.
Some of these forms of capitalism are laissez-faire, agrarian capitalism, mercantile capitalism, industrial capitalism, Monopoly, colonization, welfare capitalism, mass production, etc.
Capitalism dates back to the 13th century when the rapid development of trade and prosperity was witnessed.
It was when people started using their wealth to create more money by lending the money at interest or investing it in various kinds of projects that are joint stock companies.
In the case of a single owner, all the profits went to one man, but in the case of capitalism, the profits were divided into various stakeholders in the enterprise.
Netherlands and Italy were two countries that witnessed the creation of wealth rapidly.
Florence and France are also good examples of wealth creation and investments and an increase in workers standards.
Capitalism can be seen in large scale in two forms such as the investment in the joint stock companies
where people pool money and invest it in commercial undertakings and secondly after the industrial revolution when a single firm employed a large number of employees.
Capitalism is mentioned when the feudal societal system was replaced by the mass production systems for the common people.
It witnessed the change of hands of power from the upper and the rich class to the lower poor people by means of production and distribution.
There were two problems that the economies of the 18th century witnessed.