Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Silvia Pochini 
Author-Email:
Author-Workplace-Name: Università di Pisa - Dipartimento di Economia e Management
Title: State intervention in Italy during the nineteen-seventies and eighties: 'the heresy' of Federico Caffè
Abstract: Set against the background of the cultural transformation that led to the rise of laissez-faire economic
policies in Italy between the early 1970s and the mid 1980s, the essay highlights the figure of the
economist Federico Caffè, a passionate defender of the economic role of government. His arguments
rested partly on a careful and far-sighted consideration of the social costs inherent in the revival of a
laissez-faire approach, and partly also on his conviction of the potential for social improvement as an
intrinsic aspect of government intervention in the economy. Caffè’s vision, as expressed in his writings,
mirrored the changing nature of the public sector in Italy during the period in question; consequently,
his words fell on the ears of a public opinion that was increasingly deaf to his defence of the
State and was unresponsive to his anguished appeal, in which he stressed the need to safeguard conscious
collective action as the only means of civil advancement.
Classification-JEL: H50, B30
Keywords: Federico Caffè; economic policy; public intervention; Italian economic though
Journal: Il Pensiero Economico Italiano
Pages: 55-80
Volume: 20
Issue: 1
Year: 2012
File-URL: http://www.libraweb.net/articoli.php?chiave=201206301&rivista=63
Handle: RePEc:pei:journl:v:20:y:2012:1:3:p:55-80