A post-crisis understanding of state capitalism

Has the Washington Consensus failed? Lalita Som's book explores this debate from the prism of case studies of eight countries, including the BRICS

State Capitalism: Why SOEs Matter and the Challenges They Face

Author: Lalita Som

Publisher:  Oxford University Press

Pages: 356

Price: Rs 1,695

In her book, State Capitalism: Why SOEs Matter and the Challenges They Face, Lalita Som starts with the premise that the Washington Consensus — which refers to the standard reform package for crisis-hit economies developed by Washington D C-based institutions such as the World Bank, IMF and the US Treasury Department — has failed. She highlights how the Consensus did not find many takers after the global financial crisis of 2008, whereas China’s state-supported capitalism has won admirers.

In the 1840s, Karl Marx’s disillusionment