CONVERGENCE THEORY AND THE POSSIBILITY OF A "THIRD WAY"

• Main Author: Предраг Јовановић Гавриловић, PhD
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: University of Banja Luka, Faculty of Economics 2010-06-01
• Series: Acta Economica
• Subjects: convergence theory; Jan Tinbergen; capitalism; socialism
• Online Access: http://ae.ef.unibl.org/index.php/AE/article/view/188

The twentieth century is characterized by competition between two economic and political systems: the capitalist and socialist. It is not difficult to conclude that both systems have as their good, and bad sides. In the early sixties, there appeared a theory on the convergence of systems, the author of which was Jan Tinbergen who later became the first winner of the Nobel Prize for economics. The essence of the theory is that a gradual convergence of the two systems would come. This theory has had supporters and opponents. Until the fall of the Berlin Wall, a certain degree of convergence, however, had accurred. After that came a short period in which capitalism was presented as the indisputable historical final solution for the organization of human society. Achievements of China in reforming its system and the current economic crisis, confirmed the necessity of building a different, better economic, political and social system.