The origins of capitalism: A privilege with a purpose

Using private capital for public good

Matt Crossman, stewardship director at Rathbones Investment management, explains how the idea of a responsible capitalism – where firms exist for a wider benefit – is a return to the true roots of capitalism.

The pace may have accelerated in recent years, but the world has been in a period of rapid change since the start of the industrial revolution some 200 years ago. The transition to heavy fossil fuel use and electrification has created a scale of economic activity that would have been simply unimaginable then. Is history repeating itself in UK equities? But none of this would have been possible without the rise of something far more subtle: a legal structure - the corporation. We take corporations for granted, but a vital ingredient of capitalism that makes corporations possible ...