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An Unknown World. Since Adam Smith, economists (and politicians) have gone a full circle. In his time, capitalism was revolutionary and liberal; today, in the minds of many, it is reactionary. In his time, the idea that the state must control economic affairs Was reactionary; today, for millions, it is the only true liberalism. All but extreme partisans agree, nevertheless, that modern American capitalism is a different brand, never envisaged by Marx, not yet seen by Veblen, probably not fully understood by Keynes. Contemporary economists of all shadings worry about it—fearing that it may collapse under its own weight and bigness, or be destroyed by meddling government, or by Communism.
Author Heilbroner sides with the optimists in his collection (though he leans to the cautious hope of Keynes far more than to the bolder hopes of Adam Smith, as adapted to modern times by Economist Friedrich Hayek). Heilbroner predicts that economics will diminish somewhat as an influence on human affairs, and that morals and politics will reassert themselves more strongly. Capitalism's big problem, he feels, is not really economic, but political—the "problem of establishing itself as the arsenal, not only of production, but also of hope and meaningful freedom to the anonymous hundreds of millions who may otherwise distrust us [and] take arms against us."