Professor of economic policy Mladen Vedriš warned that one cannot succumb to the interventionist euphoria that the state will replace the market and that there is no abandoning capitalism.
In a lecture during the afternoon session of the first day of the Croatian društva ekonomista conference in Opatija, Vedriš emphasized the necessity of an intelligent role for the state. „The visible hand of John Maynard Keynes has come to save capitalism for the second time. If it helps us in the process, then it is welcome,“ said Mladen Vedriš. Most of the lectures in the second part of the Opatija conference were unrelated to the crisis.
Thus, advisor to President Mesić, Dubravko Radošević, analyzed the scenario of replacing the kuna with the euro by 2014. In his opinion, to meet the criteria for entering the European Monetary Union, Croatia needs a restrictive monetary and restrictive economic policy. „The question is whether this can be achieved in 2009 and 2010 when the global economic crisis will be ongoing,“ concluded Radošević.
The Dean of the Faculty of Economics in Zagreb, Darko Tipurić, used his lecture to rehabilitate the reputation of the faculty, which has been tarnished by the recent anti-corruption action Index. He believes that an important aspect of the current economic crisis is the crisis of trust in institutions, especially in economic science and education. To illustrate the importance of EFZG, Tipurić noted that 50,000 students have graduated from that faculty so far and that nearly one-third of all master’s degrees come from economics. He also stated that the state finances less than 10 percent of the operating costs of the Faculty of Economics. (Hrvoje Mateljić)
