ABSTRACT
Ironically, developed societies at the end of the century are confronted with the return of a problem which, under the pressure of system rivalry, they just seemed to have solved. It is a problem as old as capitalism itself: How to exploit the allocative and discovering functions of self-regulating markets effectively without having to accept unequal distribution and social costs which are at variance with the preconditions for an integration of liberal societies? In the mixed economies of the West, the state, with a considerable share of the national product at its disposal, had gained a certain latitude for transfer and subsidy payments and, on the whole, for efficient policies in the fields of infrastructure, employment, and social security. It could exert a certain influence on the overall conditions of production and distribution, with the aim of achieving growth, price stability, and full employment. In other words, the regulatory state could at the same time, through growth-inducing action on the one hand, and social policy on the other, stimulate the dynamics of economy and guarantee social integration.
