Stephen Yearwood
1 min readFeb 10, 2021

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If I may, like that the definition given here left out any reference to 'free markets'. As a technical matter, a definition should refer to the unique elements of that which is being defined. Free markets have existed without 'capitalism'--but so have production and distribution for profits, private ownership of the means of production, and selling labor for wages.

For my money, the best definition of capitalism is the simplest one: the mass production of finished goods and services for sales in geographically extended markets. To my mind, everything else associated with 'capitalism' follows from that definition.

"Finished goods" leaves (relatively) large-scale farming and mining, which have occurred throughout the history of civilization, out of it. It was the emergence of the possibility of geographically extended markets, via vast fleets of ships and railroads, that allowed new forms of power and new organizational techniques to be employed to manufacture goods 'for the masses'; early on, the 'middle class' that made up the 'critical mass' of potential consumers was geographically dispersed. "Sales" in the definition points to the monetary aspects of capitalism.

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Stephen Yearwood
Stephen Yearwood

Written by Stephen Yearwood

M.A. in political economy (money/distributive justice) "Please don't confront me with my failures/ I'm aware of them" from "These Days," as sung by Gregg Allman

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