Introduction

The Introduction deals firstly with the historical scenario of the period between the years of reconstruction from the most devastating conflict in history and the early 1970s, when the Bretton Woods system collapsed and the New Golden Age of capitalism came to an end and stagflation set in. Then a synthesis of the development of economic theory is presented: those years were characterized by the emergence of the postwar mainstream, as a result of the many contributions along neo-positivist lines presented between the 1930s and the early 1940s. This new synthesis opened onto the American era of economic theory. The new mainstream dominated the scene for over 25 years as the economics of the new golden age of capitalism. Lastly, the map of economic theory is sketched. American economic thought assumed a position of absolute preeminence. There were several centers, the most important being the Harvard–MIT and Cowles Commission network, representing the part of the mainstream that wielded increasing international influence; then the Chicago connection (Chicago and several other universities); Princeton and a newcomer, Pittsburg. On an international scene largely under the sway of the new American mainstream, which set the standard of scientific work in economics, the rest of the economics community became essentially a world of satellites of the American centers. However, several important enclaves of heterodox thought in Europe and the United States kept once-paramount theories alive.