This Harvard scholar dedicated eight years journeying across the globe to uncover the hidden past of capitalism, revealing how it was once considered ‘fragile’ and ‘insignificant’.

Exploring the Origins and Evolution of Capitalism

Sven Beckert, a Harvard historian, has recently published an extensive 1,300-page work delving into the history of capitalism. Rather than passing judgment, Beckert approaches the subject with curiosity, openly admitting throughout his book that the true definition of capitalism remains elusive even to him. His aim is to unravel its complexities and understand its development.

Speaking with Fortune from his Cambridge, Massachusetts office, Beckert described his latest book, Capitalism: A Global History, as the culmination of eight years spent investigating how economic systems shape our daily lives. He notes that many of his Harvard students assume capitalism is a natural state of affairs, but historical evidence suggests otherwise.

A Global Perspective on Capitalism

Beckert’s research aims to broaden the lens through which we view capitalism’s past, challenging the notion that it is an inevitable or timeless system. He argues that capitalism is a human construct—one that emerged, spread, and transformed through conscious decisions, institutional innovation, and, at times, significant violence. From its humble beginnings on the fringes of medieval commerce, capitalism gradually rose to dominate the modern world, but Beckert suggests that its future is not guaranteed.

While some readers may find these assertions bold, especially those who see capitalism’s dominance as a given, the book has received largely positive reviews. Critics have noted its considerable length, reminiscent of Beckert’s earlier acclaimed work, The Empire of Cotton, which was a Pulitzer finalist and award winner. Nonetheless, the book’s ambitious scope and engaging narrative have been widely commended.

Critical Reception

• In the Boston Globe, Hamilton Cain described Beckert’s work as a sweeping narrative, likening its suspense and complexity to that of a detective story, with the rise of capitalism unfolding like a mystery.
• Conversely, Adrian Woolridge of Bloomberg Opinion critiqued the book for focusing more on capitalism’s exploitative aspects than on its capacity for innovation and value creation. Beckert, however, maintains that his focus is on tracing the evolution of capitalism’s logic from the margins to the center of economic life.

From the Periphery to the Mainstream

Beckert’s findings reveal that the principles underlying capitalism can be traced back a millennium, though for centuries they played only a minor role in economic life. He frequently refers to “islands” and “nodes” in his book, describing how early capitalists were seen as outsiders, distinct from the majority who lived without a focus on accumulating and reinvesting wealth. Over the past 500 years, as capitalism gained momentum, these islands became the exceptions—remnants of pre-capitalist ways of living, such as 20th-century farming communities.

He emphasizes that capitalism should not be conflated with the mere existence of markets. While trade and economic activity have always existed, the relentless pursuit of capital accumulation and reinvestment was historically limited to a few merchant enclaves. This capitalist mindset, now central to modern economies, is a relatively recent phenomenon.

Until the late 1980s, Beckert notes, a significant portion of the world—about 30%—lived outside capitalist systems, and many rural communities in the West maintained subsistence lifestyles. (Tom Lee of Fundstrat has drawn parallels between the transformative impact of artificial intelligence today and the introduction of frozen food in the 1920s, which drastically reduced the number of subsistence farmers.)

Early Capitalist Communities

Beckert’s research uncovers vibrant merchant communities in unexpected places, such as the Port of Aden in Yemen and Cambay in present-day Gujarat, India. These traders conducted business across oceans as early as the 12th century, while innovations like paper money appeared in Song-dynasty China long before Europe adopted similar practices. Ancient Indian cities were textile hubs well before the Industrial Revolution. Despite their reach, these capitalists were surrounded by societies that operated on fundamentally different economic principles.

He observes that early merchants were often linked to state power, yet maintained a degree of independence—until the 19th century, when the relationship between capitalists and governments intensified. Beckert highlights the example of Hermann Röchling, a German industrialist whose close ties to successive governments led to his prosecution for war crimes in both World Wars.

The Normalization of Capitalist Values

To illustrate how foreign capitalist logic once seemed, Beckert recounts the story of Robert Keayne, a Puritan merchant in 17th-century Boston who was nearly excommunicated—not for theft, but for selling goods at a profit deemed excessive by his community. What is now considered standard business practice was once viewed as deeply immoral. Beckert argues that it took centuries for the pursuit of wealth to be reframed as a societal good and for capitalism to become the accepted norm.

Beckert is careful to clarify that his work is not a condemnation of capitalism, even if it contains critical observations. He acknowledges that the very opportunity to write such a book is a product of the capitalist era, which has delivered remarkable productivity, economic growth, and prosperity. His research journeys, which took him from the outskirts of Phnom Penh to Indian corporate archives and the sugar plantations of Barbados, were made possible by the global reach of capitalism.

His investigations revealed surprising and often disturbing aspects of capitalism’s past. For instance, while he was familiar with the history of slavery, examining records from Barbados in the 1600s exposed him to the shocking extent of violence intertwined with economic development.

Is Capitalism’s Reign Permanent?

Beckert suggests that the world is currently experiencing a period of transformation, reminiscent of the shift from Keynesianism to neoliberalism in the 1970s. One of the book’s most striking conclusions is the possibility that capitalism, dependent on endless capital accumulation, may not last forever. He speculates that future historians might struggle to comprehend our current economic mindset.

Ultimately, Beckert sees his book as an exploration of human agency rather than a moral critique. By showing that capitalism was once a fragile and marginal system—requiring centuries of political decisions, institutional development, and even violence to become dominant—he underscores that the future is not predetermined. “This is not a machine running on autopilot,” he asserts. “It is a system shaped by human choices.”

The Future Remains Unwritten

As the world faces new economic challenges in the 2020s, Beckert’s historical perspective serves as a reminder that economies are human creations, not immutable forces of nature. “The future is open,” he told Fortune. “Societies can reinvent themselves, and throughout history, even those with little power have sometimes profoundly influenced the course of capitalism. That’s a lesson worth remembering today.”

This article was first published on Fortune.com