With modern capitalism, for the first time in history, not only the privileged but also the broad masses have a share in prosperity. Their plates are no longer just filled with food for daily survival. Rather, capitalist mass production is producing more, better and cheaper goods that are affordable for everyone, enabling education and social advancement. (Image123RF) Here you can download the English translation of a slightly revised text of the lecture given by the author as recipient of the Hayek Medal at the “Hayek Tage 2021” (Hayek Days) 2021 in Würzburg (September 10–11, 2021). The text was published in ORDO Jahrbuch für die Ordnung von Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft, vol. 72–73 Issue 1 2023; https://doi.org/10.1515/ordo-2023-2008).
The thesis that capitalism is an economic form marked by “giving” raises the question: Is capitalism only one of the economic forms of giving? Are there other economic forms that deserve this characterization? My answer is no: there is—at least according to the state of knowledge of our real existing world and its history—only one economic form that can be characterized in this way. This fact is attested not only by history but also by theoretical considerations. There are other forms of giving, but they have nothing to do with economics. Hence my thesis that capitalism is not just one but the “economic form of giving.”
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