Artikel

De convergentietheorie en het economisch systeem van Joegoslavië

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Abstract

The convergence theory and the economic system of Yugoslavia – Most specialists divide the economic systems of the industrial nations in capitalist and collectivist ones, but they admit that a large number of countries have a mixed system. Prof. J. Tinbergen has suggested in several articles that capitalist and collectivist systems show a converging pattern, in other words all industrial nations are developing into the same mixed system. Prof. A. Marchal, in his book “Systèmes et structures économiques” (Paris, 1959) had defended a more moderate vision. He proves that Western capitalist economic systems and the economic structure of the Soviet-Union and its satellites show some forms of convergence, but doesn’t believe that they will acquire identical economic structures. In this context the question arises if there are no modern industrial societies with an economic system showing characteristics diverging as well from the capitalist as from the collectivist systems. The contemporary economic structure of Yugoslavia shows such a characteristic, namely the control of industrial enterprises by representatives of their employees. However, it should be admitted that the authority of the workers-councils is limited by the way they are organized, by government control on selling prices and by high taxation on business income. These restrictions seem necessary to guarantee an efficient exploitation of economic resources, so that it is improbable that in the near future the principle of management by the employees can be extended much further. If we investigate the way in which the basic principles of the free market economy and of the collectivist system are applied, we come to the conclusion, that they too were never completely realised. The characteristics of any economic system may be represented by a point in a square, of which the angles are named respectively: complete freedom for the entrepreneur, consumer co-operation, planning of production by a central agency and management by workers-committees. Yugoslavia occupies a point in the neigbourhood of the latter angle, while Sweden for example in nearer the angle representing consumer co-operation. Convergence means a movement to the center of the square, i.e. to an economic system in which the four contradictory principles are each partly realised. As Prof. J. Tinbergen puts it, convergence may be considered a consequence of the striving after a greater material wealth. Diverging movements occur as the expression of doctrinal aspirations. Convergence has been the rule for the last twenty years. Yugoslavia is one of the few countries which show a tendency to a diverging pattern.

How to Cite:

Vandewalle, G., (1968) “De convergentietheorie en het economisch systeem van Joegoslavië”, Tijdschrift voor Sociale Wetenschappen 13(2), 178–198. doi: https://doi.org/10.21825/tvsw.95796