The ultimate survival of an economic system depends on whether or not the interrelationships between its institutions and its members are consistent with each other. Consistency and Viability of Capitalist Economic Systems develops an original analytical framework to understand the relationship between the economic, political, and ideological structures, the external environment, and the process of reform that give rise to certain economic systems by establishing consistency. Consistency, however, is not enough; a consistent economic system must be flexible and have the internal mechanisms to be able to adapt to changes in social reality, thus making possible its survival over time. In other words, the economic system is viable when it is able to encourage increases in labor productivity and there is popular support. Thus the economic system, in its broad social science context, must be both consistent and viable. Economic systems examined in this text are the capitalist economics systems of Great Britain, Japan, European Union and Sweden. Contents: 1. Introduction 2. Consistency and Viability of Economic Systems 3. Consistency and Viability of Market Capitalism 4. Great Britain. From Atlee's Postwar Consensus and Welfare State to Thatcher's Free Market Economy 5. Postwar Japan: From the Economic Miracle to the Bubble Economy 6. The European Union as an Economic System. From the European Coal and Steel Community to the Euro 7. Sweden. From 'Third Way' to Joining the European Union