Panel
The Future of Capitalism
Milken InstituteZanny Minton Beddoes, Rebecca Henderson, David Hunt, Ronald O'Hanley, Raghuram Rajan, Zadie Minton-Bedders
- The pandemic is reshaping relationships between governments, firms, and civil society, deepening pre-existing fault lines and exposing global public health governance failures.
- Fundamental resets in the understanding of government and private sector roles are anticipated within one to two years, moving beyond the "bigger is bad" antitrust paradigm to focus on data and network effects.
- Antitrust regulation is expected to undergo a complete rethink and reform over the next couple of years, potentially aligning US approaches with EU-style GDPR models to address competition.
- Externalities pricing is predicted as an ultimate necessity for market preservation, though initial government reluctance may delay progress until corporations absorb operational costs.
- Institutional investors are expected to drive shifts in corporate behavior by demanding reduced carbon footprints, focusing on long-term value creation over quarterly results, and potentially uniting behind addressing democracy destabilization.
- Significant changes in fiscal programs are anticipated to be necessary to prevent worsening economic inequality, which may otherwise trigger pressure for improved employee benefits.
- Businesses are expected to carry more capital for resilience to avoid future bailouts, work within communities to reduce inequality, and support effective rather than oppositional regulation.
- A new era of corporate engagement is forecast where companies support a democratically accountable government, leveraging frameworks like TCFD for expanded disclosure on corporate activities.
- The development of ESG focus is expected to remain in early stages, with shareholders potentially using proposals to lobby institutional investors, creating risks for clear company goals.
- A unified business voice on political issues is currently hindered by legitimate differences of opinion regarding policy equilibrium, with no expectation of clear conclusions in the immediate term.
- Risks include shareholders lobbying institutional investors instead of Congress, which may complicate the establishment of clear corporate goals amidst the shift toward systemic threat management.