"(1) Unemployment, (2) Subsistence wages, (3) Hazards to Health, (4) Harm to the environment. These are the four results of unregulated capitalism according to Mike King in Quakernomics. In his book, which I highly commend, he details the history of Quakers in industry and how they modelled an ethical capitalism which served the community."

"Mike King’s 2014 book Quakernomics: An Ethical Capitalism should interest anyone who wants to learn more about the history of 19th century British Quakers in business. Beyond that, the claim that the book provides “an immediately relevant guide for today’s global economy” should be treated with skepticism. The historical narrative that makes up the first half of the book is definitely interesting, but it is worth mentioning a couple of important concerns: First, as one reviewer on Amazon notes there is little statistical evidence presented to back the author’s claim that Quakers were any more ethical than their counterparts. [...] Second [...] While he does provide some examples of Quakers seeking changes in public policy, the bulk of his examples to support the idea of the social concerns of Quaker business owners [...] are rooted in voluntary action and moral persuasion rather than legislation. This historical evidence is at odds with the author’s personal conviction (which informs the economic analysis in the second half of the book) that 'the state must inexorably play a key role in the construction of an ethics for reining in raw capitalism' (255). In the end we discover the author’s true position, which is that Quakernomics (as he defines it) is essentially a historical artifact that has little bearing on our current situation. What we really need is basically what many of his readers likely already experience: the modern democratic welfare state."