Fra storia ed economia: riflessioni sulla storia del pensiero economico in Italia

An unfailing element in the Italian tradition of economics is a deep concern with its past. However, motivations have been different through time. Neoclassical economists, such as Pantaleoni and Einaudi, approached the past in order to demonstrate the eternity of the «economic dogma». This absolutist stance probably explains the undisputable retardation of interest towards the history of economic thought during the heyday of Keynesianism in Italy, that in fact brought to the eclipse of this «dogma». On his part, after 1960, Sraffa had the merit of prompting a renewed interest in classical and Marxian economics, but this was not sufficient to relaunching historical work in Italy. Nowadays, when we assist to a new wave of research in the history of economics, a stronger collaboration between historians and economists is not only desirable but feasible, if based on methodological pluralism, mutual respect and a fruitful interchange of ideas and knowledge. Some cases in which this collaboration has already given excellent results are conclusively indicated.