From the author of The Shifts and the Shocks and one of the most influential writers on
economics a reckoning with how and why the relationship between democracy and capitalism is
coming undone We are living in an age when economic failings have shaken faith in global
capitalism. Political failings have undermined trust in liberal democracy and in the very
notion of truth. The ties that ought to bind open markets to free and fair elections are being
strained and rejected even in democracy's notional heartlands. Around the world democratic
capitalism which depends on the determined separation of power from wealth is in crisis. Some
now argue that capitalism is better without democracy others that democracy is better without
capitalism. This book is a forceful rejoinder to both views. It analyses how the marriage
between capitalism and democracy has become so fraught and yet insists that a divorce would be
an almost unimaginable calamity. Martin Wolf one of the wisest public voices on global affairs
argues that for all its recent failings - slowing growth increasing inequality widespread
popular disillusion - democratic capitalism though inherently fragile remains the best system
we know for human flourishing. Capitalism and democracy are complementary opposites: they need
each other if either is to thrive. Wolf's superb exploration of their marriage shows us how
citizenship and a shared faith in the common good are not romantic slogans but the essential
foundation of our economic and political freedom.
