Marco E.L. Guidi – författare

The book studies the origins and evolution of economic textbooks in the nineteenth and early twentieth century, up to the turning point represented by Paul Samuelson’s Economics (1948), which became the template for all the textbooks of the postwar period. The case studies included in the book cover a large part of Europe, the British Commonwealth, the United States and Japan. Each chapter examines various types of textbooks, from those aimed at self-education to those addressed to university students, secondary school students, to the short manuals aimed at the popularisation of political economy among workers and the middle classes. An introductory chapter examines this phenomenon in a comparative and transnational perspective.

The book studies the origins and evolution of economic textbooks in the nineteenth and early twentieth century, up to the turning point represented by Paul Samuelson’s Economics (1948), which became the template for all the textbooks of the postwar period. The case studies included in the book cover a large part of Europe, the British Commonwealth, the United States and Japan. Each chapter examines various types of textbooks, from those aimed at self-education to those addressed to university students, secondary school students, to the short manuals aimed at the popularisation of political economy among workers and the middle classes. An introductory chapter examines this phenomenon in a comparative and transnational perspective.

Italy is well known for its prominent economists, as well as for the typical public profile they have constantly revealed. But, when facing an illiberal and totalitarian regime, how closely did Italian economists collaborate with government in shaping its economic and political institutions, or work independently? This edited book completes a gap in the history of Italian economic thought by providing a complete work on the crucial link between economics and the Fascist regime, covering the history of political economy in Italy during the so-called “Ventennio” (1922-1943) with an institutional perspective. The approach is threefold: analysis of the academic and extra-academic scene, where economic science was elaborated and taught, the connection between economics, society and politics, and, dissemination of scientific debate. Special attention is given to the bias caused by the Fascist regime to economic debate and careers.

This Volume I deals with the economics profession under Fascism, in particular in light of the political and institutional changes that the regime introduced, the restructuring of higher education, the restriction of freedom in teaching and of the press, and with respect to promoting its own strategies of political and ideological propaganda.

Volume II (available separately) considers the public side of the economics profession, the “fascistisation” of culture and institutions, banishment and emigration of opponents, and post-WW2 purge of Fascist economists.

Italy is well known for its prominent economists, as well as for the typical public profile they have constantly revealed. But, when facing an illiberal and totalitarian regime, how closely did Italian economists collaborate with government in shaping its economic and political institutions, or work independently? This edited book completes a gap in the history of Italian economic thought by addressing in a comprehensive way the crucial link between economics and the fascist regime, covering the history of political economy in Italy during the so-called “Ventennio” (1922-1943) with an institutional perspective. The approach is threefold: analysis of the academic and extra-academic scene, where economic science was elaborated and taught, the connection between economics, society and politics, and the dissemination of scientific debate. Special attention is given to the bias caused by the Fascist regime to economic debate and careers. This Volume II looks at the role that economists played in society and in politics, and how this was played. In exploring the public side of the profession and the “fascistisation” of institutions, this book also examines academic epuration and emigration, and the post-WW2 purge of fascist economists.