ABSTRACT
The chapter discusses possible directions of capitalism in the aftermath of the Crisis. The failure to anticipate the sub-prime crisis dragged economic forecasting deeper than ever into disrepute. Confident anticipations of a rosy capitalist future had become commonplace in ideologies of efficient markets, the absence of alternatives, the end of history. If the Crisis has only dented such hubris it has achieved something. We cannot know the future, even in a probabilistic sense. However, this does not render it random. Crises are usually (and this time clearly) periods of increased social contest in which competing strategies are developed and advanced. It is necessary to be cautious but some outcomes seem more likely than others. Knowing something about what caused the Crisis can illuminate likely future trajectories and their limits, can identify the interests pushing or obstructing particular reorientations and therefore inform strategic thinking about alternatives.
