For much of the 20th century, rivalry existed between centrally planned and capitalist solutions to the problems of economic stability and growth. This volume examines capitalism in evolution, arguing that understanding can only be achieved by acknowledging the diversity of capitalist systems.

For much of the 20th century, rivalry existed between centrally planned and capitalist solutions to the problems of economic stability and growth. This changed in the 1990s. In that same decade, the period of rapid growth of the Japanese economy came to an end and by the close of the century, the American model of capitalism was seen as the only possible option. Modern capitalism has achieved spectacular rates of innovation and growth but the system is still menaced by financial crises and economic recessions. Furthermore, there is an unacknowledged diversity of capitalist systems. Contributors to this volume argue that to understand capitalism in evolution, this diversity of systems and approaches must be taken into account and their individual evolutions analyzed. This book represents a major understanding of the evolution of capitalism in the 21st century and brings together a distinguished group of experts with perspectives from America, Europe and Japan.

Introduction, Geoffrey M. Hodgson et al. Part 1 General theoretical perspectives: contested exchange - a new microeconomics of capitalism, Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis
economic theory and the complexity of capitalism, Yoshinori Shiozawa
the development of the market economy and the formation of voice, Kiichiro Yagi. Part 2 Theoretical perspectives on varieties of capitalism: the evolution of capitalism from the perspective of institutional and evolutionary economics, Geoffrey M. Hodgson
information technology and the "biodiversity" of capitalism, Ugo Pagano
the diversity and future of capitalisms -a "regulationniste" analysis, Robert Boyer. Part 3 Global paths of capitalist development: where are the advanced economies going?, Robert Rowthorn
the evolution of Japanese capitalism under global competition, Makoto Noguchi
from bureaucratic capitalism to transnational capitalism - an intermediate theory, Nobuharu Yokokawa
the evolutionary spiral of capitalism - globalization and neo-liberalism, Makoto Itoh.