The much touted reduction in global poverty before the current downturn is not evidence of capitalism’s inherent dynamism, Roberts notes; it’s mainly the result of China’s explosive growth, based on a different economic model.
Keynesians (and other Marxists) could argue, however, that China doesn’t have a different economic model - that the country’s leadership has, in fact, restored capitalism, but one based on a strong state sector which has been responsible for China’s robust growth. The developed capitalist economies, on the other hand, have repudiated state ownership and intervention in the economy which largely explains their continuing stagnation.