Dear friends and colleagues: the third issue of the Italian journal Storia del   
Pensiero Economico (nuova serie) -- History of Economic Thought (new series) -- has just
been published. For your interest, we attach the table of contents together with the
abstracts of the leading articles.
  
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Pier Francesco Asso and Luca Fiorito   
  
Content/Abstracts - 2005/1   
Piero Bini   
TEORIA, CULTURA E POLITICA ECONOMICA NEGLI ANNI DEL "MIRACOLO" ITALIANO: 1953-1968   
(THEORY, CULTURE AND ECONOMIC POLICY IN THE YEARS OF ITALIAN "MIRACLE": 1953-1968)   
In the 1950s the Italian economy underwent a spectacular stage of growth - the so   
called "economic miracle" - which was comparable only to the early 20th Century   
economic spurt under Giolitti. At the beginning of the 1960s the "economic miracle"   
came to a halt and was followed by a period of relative decline. This paper intends to   
explore the most significant contributions of the economic policy debate in these   
years. Important economic reforms were debated while the political and parliament     
majorities changed from centrism to a coalition between centre and left-wings parties.   
In the same period of time, from a sociological and economic point of view, an   
affluent  and consumer society was established. In particular, this paper discusses the   
following topics: 1) Central Bank's monetary policy; 2) economic development of the   
backward regions of the South of Italy; 3) economic planning. With regard to all these   
themes, the paper tries to compare the theoretical analysis and policy suggestions put   
forward by Italian economists with the policy decisions and economic measures adopted   
by Governments in power.   
JEL Classification: B 5; B 29; E 58; E 65; P 41; R 11.   
Keywords: Italian economic miracle; Bank of Italy's monetary policy; Economic   
development of backwards regions of the South of Italy; Economic planning.   
  
Warren J. Samuels, Kirk D. Johnson and Marianne Johnson   
EDWIN L. GODKIN AS PRECURSOR TO HAYEK ON THE RELATION OF IGNORANCE TO POLICY   
This paper is the third of four parts examining the ideas of the 8th Duke of Argyll and   
Edwin L. Godkin that anticipate Hayek on the principle of unintended and unforeseen   
consequences. In this part, Godkin's Unforeseen Tendencies of Democracy (1898) and     
Problems of Modern Democracy (1896) are examined. We show that Godkin's approach   
involves a general theory of ignorance, as well as a more detailed theory of ignorance   
arising from inexperience. Like Argyll, Godkin agrees that ignorance, of which the   
principle of unintended and unforeseen consequences is itself a consequence, is   
fundamental to the formation of government and law. The fourth part - which will be   
published in the next issue of this Journal - will provide a synthesis of the ideas of   
Argyll, Godkin, and Hayek on unforeseen and unintended consequences.   
JEL Classification: B130, B310   
Key Words: Argyll, Godkin, Hayek, unforeseen and unintended consequences   
  
Michele Alacevich   
POST-WAR ECONOMIC POLICIES FOR DEVELOPMENT: LAUCHLIN B. CURRIE AND THE WORLD BANK IN   
COLOMBIA   
Recollections of the first years of activities of the International Bank for   
Reconstruction and Development insist on its almost natural devotion to the financing   
of infrastructural and directly productive projects. In general terms, this perspective   
is correct, still it is in part misleading to the extent that it hides perhaps more   
profound disagreements. The changing relations between the Bank and the head of its   
first general survey mission - Lauchlin B. Currie - clearly suggest that inside the   
Bank the exclusiveness of a directly productive loans strategy was not accepted without   
any discussion. In fact, even at the very beginning of the 1950s, it was questioned in   
favour of a broader spectrum of loans - such as, for example, waterworks and housing   
loans - which, albeit still sound, had a more visible social side. Through the analysis   
of the 1949 Colombian mission case, it can be seen that the economic policy of the Bank   
toward a developing member country was strictly related to an ideological position   
about the very nature of the loans considered, whatever the soundness of an   
intervention, and whatever its project or program features.   
JEL Classification: B29, B31, O19   
Key Words: World Bank, Lauchlin Currie, Development Economics, Housing, Colombia   
  
Yuri Biondi   
G. ZAPPA, T. VEBLEN, J. R. COMMONS E L'IMPRESA COME ISTITUZIONE ECONOMICA (G. ZAPPA, T.   
VEBLEN, J. R. COMMONS ON THE FIRM AS AN ECONOMIC INSTITUTION)   
In the process of his own theorising (1903-1937), Gino Zappa received and elaborated   
the theoretical developments of the American (old) institutionalism, especially of   
Thorstein Veblen and John Roger Commons. These institutional connections leads Zappa to   
an "institutionalist turn", finally accomplished during the Thirties. His work as   
founder (or revolutionary) of the Italian tradition of Accounting and Economics   
(Economia aziendale), indeed, can be considered as an original kind of Institutional   
Economics, and this article compares some views of Zappa on the nature of the   
enterprise as economic institution with the views of two outstanding members of   
American institutionalism, starting from the original quotations and comments provided   
by the Italian economist.   
JEL classification : B25 ; B15 ; B31 ; B41   
Keywords: Old institutional economics; Accounting and economics; Firms; Institutions.   
    
Mario Coccia   
(LE ORIGINI DELL'ECONOMIA DELL'INNOVAZIONE: IL CONTRIBUTO DI JOHN RAE) THE ORIGIN OF   
THE ECONOMICS OF INNOVATION: JOHN RAE'S CONTRIBUTION   
Economics of innovation plays, nowadays a fundamental role in economic theory, even   
though the origins of this discipline have not yet received all the attention it   
deserves. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the contribution of John Rae (1796-   
1872), a Scottish philosopher, who in his book Statement of Some New Principles on the   
Subject of Political Economy, published in 1834, provides a detailed analysis of the   
causes of the progress of invention, and of the effects arising from it. John Rae, a   
classical scholar, has recently been rediscovered as a genuine precursor of the   
endogenous growth theory. This paper analyses Rae's Treatise by discussing his main   
contributions to economics in the fields of innovation, history of technology, and   
technical change. With a deep knowledge of the classics and general philosophy, Rae   
grounds his economic analysis in clearly distinguishing causes from effects and in   
devising an inductive method of inquiry into the sources of the wealth of nations. His   
solid and versatile educational background led him to put forward the discipline of the   
economics of innovation pointing out the nature, causes and effects of the   
technological progress on economic growth.   
JEL Classification: B11; B12; B31; B40.   
Keywords: John Rae; Invention; Innovation; History of Technology; Economic Growth;   
Economics of Innovation; Economics of Technical Change.   
  
Daniela Parisi   
AN ECONOMIST AND HIS LIBRARY: THE BOOKS AND NOTES OF ACHILLE LORIA (1857-1943)   
The description of Achille Loria's library starts from the basic idea that a collection   
of printed works (consisting of books, pamphlets, periodicals but also manuscript   
material, miscellaneous notes and correspondence) represents itself a document on the   
life and opinions of the owner and his environment. Achille Loria belonged to the group   
of representatives of Western culture who may be considered 'cosmopolitan', as is also   
testified by his correspondence with high profile personalities from different   
countries. Besides a presentation of his library, this paper will focus in particular   
on two unpublished letters from Irving Fisher. The letters, undated, contain   
considerations on some of Fisher's basic and long-standing interests: the distinction   
between capital and income, the definition of Economics as a natural science that   
advances by applying statistical methods, the issue of distributive justice in the   
analysis of the taxation system.   
JEL classification: B20, B31, B23   
Keywords: Achille Loria, Irving Fisher, Ragnar Frisch