In the 1960s and 1970s, fashionable ideas, at least among Western intellectuals, were the convergence between socialism (reading: communism) and capitalism. The true distinction between one side and the system of personal choice and on the Oher side from a system of collective and political choice is less clear than today. Instead, most people believed that the main lines of fractures were between capitalism (i.e. right and the US) and communism (i.e. left and the Soviet Union). Few people saw that the progression of convergence was about the superiority of collective choice (whether left or right).
At the time (Iillo Tempore), throughout the literature on the convergence of capitalism and communism. In Gregory Grossman’s Economic System (Prentice Hall, 1967), I reread what I underlined (pp. 112-113).
In the past, these types of planning and steering have been too stiff in the east and perhaps too loose in the west. It is absolutely unlikely that this plane will curb future convergence. (The considerable already famous similarity between the French and Yugoslav plans is about the frontiers of capitalism and socialism, respectively.)…
The Soviet-style East is looking forward to stricter economic control by central authorities, and while the West searches for a more effective form of social control, both sides look forward to serious issues with productivity.
(In the roaring sound of the 60s, many believed that when the nation is absolutely powerful, the courts of people are completely free. It was recently rediscovered by several economists who won the Nobel Prize.)
Going into the present, the convergence that you have progressed faster is not so unstealthy. America where you participated in the race with vengeance. A column by Greg IP in the Wall Street Journal pointed out on August 11, 2025, “The United States marches towards state capitalism with American characteristics.” The entire piece is worth reading, but some quotes give it a flavour:
The traditional wisdom of generations of AGs believed that as China liberalised its economy would come to American memory. Interada, American capitalism is beginning to look like China. …
This is not socialism, but the state owns the means of production. It’s like state capitalism, a hybrid between socialism and capitalism, in which the state nominally guides the decisions of private companies.
Of course, from a narrow economic perspective, the advantage of group choice was as many as illusions as Afar of the HA half century. GREG IP Notes:
China’s state capitalism is not a success story for SEMS. Barry Norton of the University of California, San Diego, documented how China’s rapid growth since 1979 came from market sources rather than states.
