American Capitalism

This book chapter identifies unique features of American capitalism as they relate to sustainability and contrasts them with what I will call European capitalism. It examines differences in the socio-economic systems of the United States, (Continental) Europe, and (though only marginally) Japan. The chapter discusses how legal, political, and societal structures have supported the development of more sustainable capitalist economies in these regions, while the United States has been lagging. The corporate governance paradigm is approached from a distinctively comparative perspective. As I analyze the interdependency between stakeholder thinking, governance, and sustainability, I include other aspects of the political and regulatory business environment that may explain why, even in an era of international convergence of corporate governance regimes, sustainability is more developed in European capitalist countries than it is in the United States