Long-Range Convergence and Displacements in Economic Development and Interactions between Economic Systems

Abstract

This chapter reflects on the relationship between long-range changes in economic systems and changes in levels of economic development across countries worldwide. Among the questions considered are the following. Is there a convergence between rich/developed countries and poor/developing countries? How to separate the effects of different economic systems from the effects of levels of economic development? Is there a place for displacements after convergence, whereby poorer contemporaries displace current leading rich/developed nations from leadership in the not too distant future? What are the implications of the displacements for the relative dominance of competing economic system?