Capital strike

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Capital strike is the practice of businesses withholding any form of new investment in an economy, in order to attain some form of favorable policy. [1] Capital strikes may arise from the determination that return on investment may be low or nonexistent or from the belief that by withholding investment certain political or economic changes may be achieved—or from a combination of the two. Capital strikes can be economy-wide, or take place in a specific industry. [2]

Contents

Capital strikes may sometimes result when governments pursue policies that investors consider "unfriendly" or "inflexible", such as rent control or nationalization. The term can refer to a capital strike by a single investor [3] or a large group. Capital strikes are commonly invoked as the business-owner/shareholder equivalent of a labor strike, and are often tied to the concept of capital flight . [4] Capital strike was originally a derogatory term, [5] but has been used more neutrally in modern politics. [6] [7]

Examples

It is difficult to determine with any certainty when a decline in business investment is the result of a "capital strike" against certain policies or a response to other economic factors. Most often, the phrase "capital strike" is used to describe resistance to labor-friendly or left wing reforms which are perceived or intended to be against the interests of business owners and investors.

Impacts

Capital strikes have historically impacted economies and governments in a variety of ways and provoked a variety of responses.

Conditions under which capital strikes are effective

Given that capital strikes have succeeded or failed in a variety of situations, predicting what conditions favor them is particularly difficult. Some have put forward that capital controls are one key method by which governments can mitigate the effectiveness of disinvestment and capital flight, [11] [22] but their usefulness has been disputed. [23] The effectiveness of modern purported capital strikes in Greece and Venezuela have been attributed to the sheer size and reach of the financial firms involved. [21]

A capital strike is the premise of Ayn Rand's novel Atlas Shrugged .

See also

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The following lists events that happened during 1972 in Chile.

References

  1. ↑ Young, Kevin A.; Banerjee, Tarun; Schwartz, Michael (2018). "Capital Strikes as a Corporate Political Strategy: The Structural Power of Business in the Obama Era". Politics & Society. 46 (1): 3–28. doi: 10.1177/0032329218755751 . ISSN   0032-3292 – via SAGE Publishing.
  2. ↑ "Capital Strike". Shmoop. 2019. Archived from the original on March 11, 2021. Retrieved March 11, 2021.
  3. ↑ Dane (February 20, 2011). "Foreign Investor Explains Capital Strike Against Chile". Brophy World. Archived from the original on July 19, 2020. Retrieved March 11, 2021.
  4. ↑ Epstein, Gerald A. (2005). Capital Flight and Capital Controls in Developing Countries. Cheltenham, United Kingdom: Edward Elgar Publishing. p. 6. ISBN   9781781008058.
  5. ↑ Frank, Thomas (April 2013). "To Galt's Gulch They Go". The Baffler . Archived from the original on September 21, 2020. Retrieved March 11, 2021.
  6. ↑ Karlgaard, Rich (December 22, 2008). "Capital Is On Strike". Forbes . Archived from the original on September 25, 2020. Retrieved March 11, 2021.
  7. ↑ James, Frank (September 15, 2011). "Boehner Lobs Supply Side Shell In Fiscal Trench War With Obama". NPR . Archived from the original on September 25, 2020. Retrieved March 11, 2021.
  8. ↑ Markham, Jerry (2002). A Financial History of the United States. Vol. II. M. E. Sharpe. p. 234. ISBN   9780765607300.
  9. ↑ "History". Cleveland Public Power . Archived from the original on September 30, 2020. Retrieved August 23, 2020.
  10. 1 2 Devine, James (Fall 1989). "Paradigms as Ideologies: Liberal vs. Marxian Economics". Review of Social Economy. 47–3 (3): 305. JSTOR   29769465.
  11. 1 2 3 Eaton, George (October 7, 2017). "French lessons: what Corbyn can learn from Mitterrand's mistakes". New Statesman . Archived from the original on November 12, 2020. Retrieved February 19, 2019.
  12. ↑ "Salvador Allende". Encyclopædia Britannica . January 29, 2021. Archived from the original on February 11, 2021. Retrieved March 14, 2019.
  13. ↑ Chiang, Lulu (September 15, 2011). "Boehner: Job Creators in America are 'On Strike'". CNBC . Archived from the original on September 20, 2020. Retrieved February 19, 2019.
  14. ↑ Shure, Natalie (2020). "Uber and Lyft Are Threatening a Capital Strike". Archived from the original on 2020-08-20.
  15. ↑ Press, Alex N. (February 15, 2021). "At Kroger and Amazon, Capital Is Going on the Offensive". Jacobin . Archived from the original on February 18, 2021. Retrieved March 11, 2021.
  16. ↑ Freyer, Tom (2016). Antitrust and Global Capitalism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 59. ISBN   978-1139455589.
  17. ↑ "Roosevelt Recession". Roosevelt Institute . August 19, 2010. Archived from the original on June 20, 2019. Retrieved March 11, 2021.
  18. ↑ Brown, Kendall W. (2019). "Chilean Military Overthrows Allende". Salem Press Encyclopedia.
  19. ↑ Navia, Patricio; Osorio, Rodrigo (2017). "'Make the Economy Scream'? Economic, Ideological and Social Determinants of Support for Salvador Allende in Chile". Journal of Latin American Studies . Cambridge University Press. 49 (4): 771–797. doi:10.1017/S0022216X17000037. S2CID   151818039.
  20. ↑ Williamson, Elizabeth (December 11, 2010). "Obama Woos CEOs as Frictions Ease". The Wall Street Journal . Archived from the original on March 25, 2015. Retrieved March 11, 2021.
  21. 1 2 Young, Kevin; Schwartz, Michael; Banerjee, Tarun (February 3, 2017). "When Capitalists Go on Strike". Jacobin . Archived from the original on November 29, 2020. Retrieved March 11, 2021.
  22. ↑ Panitch, Leo (January 21, 2014). "Syriza Succeeds in Greece by Challenging European Social Democrats' Approach to Reform". The Real News . Archived from the original on January 20, 2021. Retrieved March 11, 2021.
  23. ↑ Hartwell, Christopher (July 3, 2015). "Capital Controls Hinder Needed Reform". Handelsblatt (211).
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