Capitalist economies have been spectacularly efficient at enabling growing consumption of private goods, at least over the long run. When it comes to public goods – such as education, the environment, health care, and equal opportunity – the record is not quite as impressive, and the political obstacles to improvement have seemed to grow as capitalist economies have matured.
资本主义经济在促进私人商品消费增长方面效率极高，至少在长期是如此。而对于公共商品——如教育、环境、医疗和机会平等——资本主义经济的记录便不那么令人瞩目了，而随着资本主义经济走向成熟，改善的政治障碍似乎也在提高。