The Information Nexus : Global Capitalism from the Renaissance to the Present

A provocative account of what it is that makes capitalism unique. Steven G. Marks argues that capitalism's distinctiveness as an economic system lies in business's quest for information and usable knowledge, tracing how this developed from the Renaissance onwards, shaping economic development and the divergence of the East and West.

Capitalism 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.