Esiste ancora un capitalismo di mercato? Risposta ai miei critici

The main purpose of this paper is to answer the implicit question that brings together the three essays written by Sergio Belardinelli, Amedeo Lepore, and Francesco Magris in response to my book "Capitalism". The three contributions all connect to the same underlying issue, albeit with some variations on the theme: does "free market capitalism" still exist, can it still exist? Capitalism is the absolute protagonist of the "great enrichment", namely, the unprecedented improvement in living standards which has characterized a relatively recent period in history. The development that characterizes this phase occurred when people managed to find new ways to satisfy their needs and the state which progressively reduced its interference in the economy. And, following Deirdre McCloskey, it can be argued that it is possible to trace the birth of capitalism to the reduction of political interference in the way in which the factors of production are combined. The market economy might seem complex but there is no need to understand it to use it and its future will depend solely on people and the choices, even daily ones, they make.