In the eyes of many Americans and Britons, their style of capitalism has become too ruthless, too unequal and too focused on maximising short-term returns to shareholders to the exclusion of everyone else. A growing number of citizens and political leaders are flirting with socialism. And even normally market-oriented economists and business leaders have begun to worry that the system is eroding trust in ways that undermine democracy and economic growth.

Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democratic presidential candidate, recently unveiled a proposal to fix all that. Her Accountable Capitalism bill would force large US corporations to replace their current state charters with a federal one that requires companies be run for the benefit of all stakeholders, not just stockholders. It would give workers the right to elect 40 per cent of each board of directors. And it would prevent executives and directors who have been lavished with company shares from selling any time soon.

While these ideas are intriguing, they are flawed. Ms Warren is seeking to have the US embrace some but not all aspects of the German model of “ co-determination”. There would be no “works councils” to represent workers in operational matters, no national wage bargaining and no culture of trust and co-operation between labour and management. The model only works as a package.