000			01473nam a22001577a 4500
999			_c25514 _d25514
020			_a9781107519633
082			_a330.12209 _bMAR-I
100			_aMarks, Steven G.
245			_aInformation Nexus _b: Global Capitalism from The Renaissance to The Present
260			_aCambridge _bCambridge University Press _c2016
300			_a xiv, 250p.
504			_aInclude Index
520			_aCapitalism is central to our understanding of contemporary economic and political life and yet what does it really mean? If, as has now been shown to be the case, capital and property rights existed in pre-modern and pre-capitalist societies, what is left of our understanding of capitalism? Steven G. Marks' provocative new book calls into question everything we thought we knew about capitalism, from the word's very origins and development to the drivers of Western economic growth. Ranging from the Middle Ages to the present, The Information Nexus reveals that the truly distinctive feature of capitalism is business's drive to acquire and analyze information, supported by governments that allow unfettered access to public data. This new interpretation of capitalism helps to explain the rise of the West, puts our current information age into historical perspective, and provides a benchmark for the comparative assessment of economic systems in today's globalized environment.
650			_aHistory _vCapitalism _vEconomic history _vInformation Networks
942			_2ddc _cBK