Thursday 3 July 2025
12:30
Ruchir Sharma
What Went Wrong with Capitalism?
Capitalism didn’t fail, it was ruined… Ruchir says progressives are right, in part, to mock it as “socialism for the rich.” For a century, governments have ballooned in size —spending more, regulating more, bailing out more. The result? A distorted system propping up monopolies, zombie firms, and billionaires. Capitalism is no longer fair or efficient. Join us as Ruchir unpacks how the system broke — and why building a bigger state will only make it worse.
Ruchir is Chairman of Rockefeller International and Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Breakout Capital, an investment firm focused on emerging markets. He moved to Rockefeller in 2022 after a 25 year career at Morgan Stanley Investment Management, where he was Head of Emerging Markets and Chief Global Strategist.
Based in New York, he is a contributing editor at the Financial Times. His work has also appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, Foreign Affairs, The Atlantic, The Guardian, and Foreign Policy. Ruchir is the author of Breakout Nations, a 2012 international bestseller, The Rise and Fall of Nations, a 2016 New York Times bestseller, Democracy on the Road, 2019, The 10 Rules of Successful Nations, 2020 and most recently, What Went Wrong with Capitalism, 2024.
“This book will reshape how you think about the world. It is bound to provoke people on both the left and the right.”
Chairman of Rockefeller International and Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Breakout Capital
Ruchir is Chairman of Rockefeller International and Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Breakout Capital, an investment firm focused on emerging markets. He moved to Rockefeller in 2022 after a 25 year career at Morgan Stanley Investment Management, where he was Head of Emerging Markets and Chief Global Strategist.
Based in New York, he is a contributing editor at the Financial Times. His work has also appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, Foreign Affairs, The Atlantic, The Guardian, and Foreign Policy. Ruchir is the author of Breakout Nations, a 2012 international bestseller, The Rise and Fall of Nations, a 2016 New York Times bestseller, Democracy on the Road, 2019, The 10 Rules of Successful Nations, 2020 and most recently, What Went Wrong with Capitalism, 2024.
