ABSTRACT
This chapter summarises the main points made in the book. If economists want to understand and analyse capitalism, they had better rely on a theory of capital that describes fundamental institutions and processes of this economic system. The definition of capital should therefore be oriented towards the way business practice in capitalist societies uses the term. In order to underline the importance of this choice of theory, the book demonstrates that it can be used to understand and comment on developments that are very important for business practice: fair value accounting and shareholder value maximisation. The book finds that both interfere with the economic calculations of enterprises and jeopardise the market process. The chapter also provides an outlook on future research. It argues that it would be particularly promising to combine the theory of capital and capitalism presented here with the Austrian business cycle theory.
