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...

This paper deals with methodological principles of Schumpeter’s academic writings. Those principles led Schumpeter to create diverse works and were reflected systematically in some of his writings, where Schumpeter emerged as a theorist of science. Besides working on specific topics,...

A synthesis of the literature on the relations among monetary aggregates, financial development and economic growth is presented. While recent literature has been dominated by neoclassical thinking, the monetary framework that does not limit the channel of effect of policy factors on economic...

The article comments on the contributions by Aldo Montesano and Roberto Cellini in this number, in particular focussing on the evolution of economic thought and the changing definitions of economics and of political economy. It is here argued that the historical evolution of the discipline...

The paper outlines the intellectual biography of Paolo Sylos Labini, a great economist with strong civic ideals. After recalling his education (in Rome, then at Harvard with Schumpeter and at Cambridge with Robertson), the paper illustrates his contributions in a variety of fields, ranging from...

The common interpretation of Carl Menger’s take on capital theory rests upon a few sentences in his Principles of Economics. His later monograph on the topic, Zur Theorie des Kapitals (A contribution to the theory of capital), is more or less ignored, although it must be seen as a recantation...

The rhetoric of positivism had a profound effect on the worldview and practice of economists in the middle of the last century. Though this influence has greatly diminished, it still may be found in the attitude of many economists towards the history of their discipline. This paper traces the...

The current global crisis has shown the limitations of the mainstream approach. We trace the origins of the limitations of the dominant neoclassical views to the capital debates and to the rise to dominance of intertemporal general equilibrium. The limited use of the Arrow­Debreu model, which...

The inheritance of heterodox economics hinges upon the degree to which the next generation is exposed to the history of the discipline’s thought. The potential to include heterodox thought into the curriculum presents itself most easily through history of economic thought classes. The...