Research Paper on:
The Nature and Logic of Capitalism by Heilbroner

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
and latter day conservatives. In his book, Heilbroner (1986) begins by saying that one problem is defining capitalism, something that is quite difficult to do. One would think  that this is an absurd thought. What could be easier? However, to the author, the definition is unclear. Instead--and perhaps this only goes to semantics -- the author chooses to  discuss the business system. Then he will dispute that assumption too. In any event, he does discuss the capitalist system. He sees it as something related to the division among  private and public domains, the free market and the desire for individuals to gain economically for personal success. Much of his analysis is personal and psychological. Yet, he sees capitalism  as failing because it does not address the needs of the people. Above all, Heilbroner argues (1986) for more public sector intervention. In essence, while the author does not  see capitalism as actually working, his idea of capitalism involves an immense amount of public sector power. At the same time, he is not a communist and sees that ideology  as detrimental. Clearly, this author is a cautious optimist who disagrees with many politicians. Still, he rails against economists like Marx and Keynes, contending that such theories are simply erroneous.  His vision of capitalism is different from the capitalism that classical liberals and pro-capitalist conservatives hold as well. Although classical liberals might agree with him to some extent as  they too see social programs as important, his take on capitalism is complexity different. Liberals see the social programs as stop gap measures until those who are left behind are  able to compete like everyone else. To liberals today, the public sector is necessary to level the playing field. To Heilbroner, the public sector is the playing field. While