Abstract

The author recalls the atmosphere in which the country was enfolded from the immediate post-war period, to the first economic planning of the center-left government in the 60s, and to the more complicated period of the 80s and 90s. Economists like Paolo Leon and Paolo Sylos Labini have played an important role in stimulating public officials, business representatives and workers. Their most salient feature was the courage to want to change things, maintaining a strong methodological approach, and a firm bilief in the goodness of public intervention.