Karl Marx wrote Das Kapital during the late industrial revolution, as Europe underwent a wrenching transformation from an agricultural to an industrial economy. In this monumental work, Marx argued that capitalism is both inefficient and immoral, relying upon the exploitation of workers by owners of capital. Many modern ideas about profits, interest, monopoly, and the wastefulness of the business cycle find their roots in the Marxian view of economics.
The Great Economic Thinkers Series is a collection of presentations that explain in understandable language the major ideas of history's most important economists. Special emphasis is placed on each thinker's attitude toward capitalism, revealing their influence in today's debate on economic progress and prosperity.