Theory and Practice of Economic Policy: Tradition and Change

This volume contains 19 papers presented at the IX AISPE Conference, which was held in June 2006 at the University of Padua, Faculty of Political Sciences. The conference examined the theory and practice of “economic policy” during the 20th century, focusing on both historical aspects and present experiences. Although already introduced by the mercantilist doctrines and classical theories, during the past century economic policy acquired the full status of a discipline endowed with its own theoretical corpus and a wide range of applications. The volume is divided into six sections. The first section, “State and Market in the History of Economic Thought,” faces “big themes,” such us the historical evolution of ideas on government, market and anti-trust. Following these wide surveys the second section, “Economic Policy and Knowledge,” develops methodological and epistemological concerns, and singles out and discusses the foundations of the relationship between public policies and economic knowledge. The next sections present specific topics. The third one, on “Distribution and Poverty,” calls attention to a pivotal topic in this research area, the distributive aspects which remain at the centre of public policies, notwithstanding their marginalization from the economic debate. The fourth section, “Monetary Policy and Banking,” focuses on banking systems' evolution and on theoretical features introduced in the monetary circuit approach. The fifth section, on “Wage Policy,” which sweeps from Walrasian wage law to current perspectives on full employment, traces history and the present. Finally the sixth section, on “Current Issues,” looks in-depth at some points which have been at the centre of recent political and theoretical debates; that is, innovation, growth, “third ways” and international coordination.