24. Capitalist Enterprise and Clean Water for a Bolivian City

Capitalism: Success, Crisis and Reform (PLSC 270)

In this final lecture of the semester, Professor Rae gives a summary of major themes, thinkers, and cases covered in the course. He begins by reviewing some foundational ideas, including Adam Smith's invisible hand, Marxist historicism, Malthusian economics, and Schumpeter's notion of creative destruction. Professor Rae also reviews the importance to capitalism of the modern nation state, which guarantees property rights and contracts, and recalls Hernando de Soto's theories about the importance of formal property rights for developing countries. Various forms of corporate structure and ownership are discussed. Professor Rae concludes by introducing a case about water privatization in Bolivia.

00:00 - Chapter 1. Introduction, Class Agenda and Fundamentals Revisited
09:33 - Chapter 2. Capital & Capitalism
17:38 - Chapter 3. State, Property, and Capital
32:56 - Chapter 4. Wealth Maximizing Law & the Joint Stock Corporation
43:33 - Chapter 5. Creative Possibilities of a Free Society
44:52 - Chapter 6. Case Discussion: Bechtel in Cochabamba

Complete course materials are available at the Open Yale Courses website: http://open.yale.edu/courses

This course was recorded in Fall 2009.