There is a common view that free-market capitalism systematically perpetuates short-sightedness. The dog-eat-dog selection pressures of the free market force capitalist enterprises to focus on next quarter’s profit-margins at the expense of any long-term vision of a better future, so the argument goes.
This is a central thesis of the 2024 international bestselling book Slow Down: The Degrowth Manifesto by Kohei Saito, philosophy professor at the University of Tokyo.
Capitalism reflects the opinions of shareholders and business owners living in the present and therefore ignores the voices of future generations, creating yet another type of externality by shifting the burden of environmental damage to the future.
Problems arose from conducting agriculture under capitalism as well. Agricultural businessmen became concerned primarily with the short-term bottom line, preferring to profit from serial cultivation of the same land over leaving fields fallow to allow their nutrients to be renewed. Funds used to maintain the soil, such as those used for irrigation systems and the like, were also cut to the bare minimum. Capitalism always prioritizes short-term profits.
https://thedailyeconomy.org/ar....ticle/the-bestseller
