What’s the thin line between capitalism, cronyism, and corporatism?

Stephen Hicks, Ph.D.

July 10, 2023

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min read

Question: What’s the thin line between capitalism, cronyism, and corporatism?

‍Answer: Capitalism is when there’s a principled separation between the economy and politics: between business and government. Cronyism is when there’s supposed to be a separation, but there is cheating. Connected politicians and business people are given and receive special favors that they’re not supposed to be doing. Corporatism is when the official policy is that the government is running the economy, working hand-in-hand with business professionals. So, the lines between them are thick, rather than thin. The thin-line cases, though, come up in the mixed economy cases when sometimes it’s very hard to tell whether the given tax break or subsidy or certain types of lobbying are legitimate or count as cheating or receiving special favors.

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About the author:

Stephen Hicks, Ph.D.

Stephen R. C. Hicks is a Professor of Philosophy and a Senior Scholar for The Atlas Society.

He is author of The Art of Reasoning: Readings for Logical Analysis (W. W. Norton & Co., 1998), Explaining Postmodernism: Skepticism and Socialism from Rousseau to Foucault (Scholargy, 2004), Nietzsche and the Nazis (Ockham’s Razor, 2010), Entrepreneurial Living (CEEF, 2016), Liberalism Pro and Con (Connor Court, 2020), Art: Modern, Postmodern, and Beyond (with Michael Newberry, 2021), Eight Philosophies of Education (2022), and Lectures on the Philosophy of Politics (Spanish translation, Publicaciones del Orden Espontáneo, 2026). He has published in Business Ethics Quarterly, Review of Metaphysics, and The Wall Street Journal. His writings have been translated into 20 languages.

He has been Visiting Professor of Business Ethics at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., Visiting Fellow at the Social Philosophy & Policy Center in Bowling Green, Ohio, Visiting Professor at the University of Kasimir the Great, Poland, Visiting Fellow at Harris Manchester College of Oxford University, England, and Visiting Professor at Jagiellonian University, Poland.

His B.A. and M.A. degrees are from the University of Guelph, Canada. His Ph.D. in Philosophy is from Indiana University, Bloomington, USA.

In 2010, he won his university’s Excellence in Teaching Award.

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