RSA - The End Of The Free Market

The End Of The Free Market

15th Jul 2010; 13:00

(full recording including audience Q&A)
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RSA Thursday

Leading economic and political analyst Ian Bremmer returns to the RSA to offer an insider's guide to the next big global political and economic trend: state capitalism.

Drawn to the economic power of capitalism but wary of uncontrolled free markets, authoritarian governments have invented something new, using state-owned and state-sponsored corporations to create wealth that can be directed for political gain.

Enormous investment funds from state-capitalist economies have quickly become vitally important sources of capital.

State capitalist governments and companies now control three quarters of the world’s crude oil reserves and take part in global markets for aviation, shipping, power, arms, telecoms and petrochemicals.

At the RSA, Ian Bremmer will analyse the emergence of state capitalism, looking at examples from Saudi Arabia, China and Russia, which are attracting imitators across much of the developing world.

Ian Bremmer believes this trend threatens the future of free market capitalism, and we all need to understand it.