The capture of market power

The wealth produced by the early waves of capitalism was spread very unevenly, and produced a reaction that could have destroyed it were it not for two responses by capitalists and governments. The first of these was even further generation of wealth, and this was shared more equally as a result of the second response, democracy. Giving people a vote enabled them to put pressure on governments to tax the wealth being generated by property rights and distribute it to those who had none. However, democracy can only survive if a significant proportion of incomes is not dependent on the state. Property owners in turn responded by financing political action to capture the laws of property and turn them to their own advantage. This was first seen in respect of property in information, so that eventually laws relating to patents copyright and trademarks were effectively only drafted by those who could benefit from them. These laws underwrote globalization, characterized by a large and widening gap between rich and poor countries.