Three Paths to Capitalism: an Agenda for Research

Capitalist market economies developed historically in three different contexts: i) gradual transformation of traditional economies; ii) dismantling of war economy schemes; iii) failure of attempts to consolidate socialist centrally planned economies. The first path to capitalism has been the topic of extensive discussion by the founding fathers of economic science and by economic historians. The other two have remained largely untouched by theoretical analysis. We argue that comparison of the three paths to capitalism must become the main agenda for research of those interested in studying the emergence of capitalist market economies, providing a sound basis for developing theoretical frameworks for understanding these transition processes.