Word: capitalists
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This week's cover story on the state of capitalism as the 1980s begin reflects the reporting of correspondents in many of TIME'S bureaus, both in the capitalist world and beyond. But much of the research was done by Associate Editor George M. Taber, who wrote the story as well as an accompanying side bar on capitalism's roots in history...
Certainly the company's main objectives must remain production and profit, but the capitalist firm also has important social functions. The corporation will increasingly have to face the sometimes conflicting demands of the balance sheet and society. The new corporate constituency extends beyond the shareholders to embrace the company's employees, customers and the community at large. Demands for "social accountability" are increasing among legislators and consumerists and, very important, among younger corporate managers. Their questions are tough, and the answers are not clear...
Some of these dilemmas require something close to squaring the circle. Compromises will be necessary and progress will be imperfect. The lesson of the past, activist decade is that, if capitalist managers do not take social actions voluntarily, unforgiving legislators and regulators will force them to do so, and the consequences will be harsh...
Perhaps the world's most successful capitalist society is West Germany. Though the government is nominally center-left and holds minority interests in the steel, oil and auto industries, it interferes little in the thriving private sector. Chancellor Helmut Schmidt will run for re-election this fall with a record that would be any other politician's dream: last year the economy grew 4.4%, inflation was 4.4%, and productivity increased...
Capitalism is flowering expansively in Asia. In addition to Japan's fabled success, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong have prospered by using the classical capitalist tools: private initiative and the profit incentive. Over the past four years the Hong Kong economy has grown by an amazing 12.75% annually, while unemployment has been a modest 2% despite huge influxes of refugees from neighboring China. During that period, per capita real income increased...