Capitalist Countries

We explain what capitalist countries are and how they emerged. In addition, we tell you which are the capitalist countries on each continent.

What are the capitalist countries of the world?

Capitalist countries are those that organize their economy and society based on the essential principles of capitalism. These principles can be summarized as follows:

• Fundamental respect for private property.
• Supply and demand as guiding principles of economic exchange.
• Economic freedom that is, private management of the means of production.

Any country that meets these requirements can be considered a capitalist country, but not necessarily in the same way or to the same degree. Capitalism is not a uniform and homogeneous doctrine, but a series of principles that are applied and interpreted in different ways so it is always important to consider the context when reflecting on it.

The fundamental difference between capitalist countries and socialist or communist countries depends on the levels of economic intervention that the State is allowed. In a communist society, the economic control of the State is complete. Production is directed from the public, through five-year plans that are evaluated and modified on the fly, and the private economy is minimal or non-existent.

This ideological distinction was very relevant in historical terms during the middle of the 20th century, especially during the Cold War (1947-1991). In this contest, two blocks of countries faced each other: the capitalist block (led by the United States) and the socialist block (led by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics). However, after the collapse of the socialist bloc and the establishment of global capitalism At the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st, the vast majority of countries adopted capitalism as a system

Rise of capitalist countries

Capitalism as a socioeconomic system is the result of a long process of social, philosophical, economic and even technological changes that began in Europe at the end of the Middle Ages, and took shape in the 18th century with mercantilism and the Industrial Revolution.

Until then, a feudal system of production prevailed, which supported the aristocracy at the top of a largely rural society, strongly controlled by the Church and absolutist monarchies. But the new ideas of the Renaissance and the gradual rise to power of the so-called bourgeois -merchants and artisans who inhabited the Burgos medieval – who controlled capital, transformed this paradigm. So, Modern society was founded by social liberalism and economic capitalism.

However, The first capitalist countries organized their production models around artisanal manufacturing and trade with other countries, under the command of the aristocracy and enlightened despotism. This means that they were countries with absolutist governments, but with modern societies oriented towards trade and supported by the aggressive colonization of other peoples and nations, from which they obtained new raw materials at convenient prices.

The great takeoff of the capitalist system came in the 18th century, hand in hand with the Industrial Revolution that began in England The possibility of mass production at low costs transformed not only European society, but the entire world. There was a great exodus from the countryside to the cities that led to the emergence of the working class and there were also the political transformations that put an end to the Old Regime (such as the French Revolution of 1789) and cemented republican democracy.

In this way modern capitalist countries were born.

Examples of capitalist countries

As an example, a list of the main capitalist countries on each continent:

Examples of capitalist countries in Africa

Examples of capitalist countries in America

Examples of capitalist countries in Asia

Examples of capitalist countries in Europe

Examples of capitalist countries in Oceania

Types of capitalism

Capitalist countries are different from each other, because there is not a single type of capitalism, but rather it can be distinguished between numerous variants, such as:

• Capitalism laissez-faire. The French expression laissez-faire (translatable as “let it be done”) is used in the economic world for the variants of capitalism in which the least possible intervention of the State in the economic life of citizens is sought. In this type of systems, economic freedom reaches its maximum degree, since the prices of goods and services are determined entirely by the particular logic of the market.
• State capitalism. At the opposite end of the laissez-faire There are capitalist variants in which the State plays an active and central role in economic life. This generally occurs through public companies and state assets, taxes, restrictions and other dynamics that allow production to be channeled. In these systems, private economic actors must compete not only with each other, but also with the State.
• Corporate capitalism. Corporate or corporate capitalism is, as its name suggests, a variant of the system in which the State is at the service of certain business consortia, which it favors through the control of economic regulations and the restriction of private competition. In this case, competitors who are not favored by the State have a much harder time in the financial year.
• social capitalism. Also known as the Social Market Economy, it is a type of capitalism that attempts to combine the economic intervention of the State with economic freedom. To do this, it allows the State a minimal but significant activity, such as social security, unemployment benefits and other areas of employment, and leaves the rest of the matters of economic life to the free market.
• Mixed capitalism. The mixed economy or mixed capitalism proposes the coexistence between a public economy, in the hands of state companies, and a private economy, in the hands of individual actors. The State intervenes in the economy as another competitor, while designing macroeconomic policies to correct market failures. From certain points of view, these types of systems are on the border between capitalism and socialism.

Continue with: Advantages and disadvantages of capitalism

References

• “What is capitalism?” at the International Monetary Fund.
• “Are the Nordic countries socialist?” by Juan Carlos Hidalgo in El País (Spain).
• “What is capitalism?” in The Balance Magazine.
• “Which countries are capitalist?” in The Encyclopaedia Britannica.