Review of ANTONIO CALAFATI, L’Uso dell’Economia. La Sinistra Italiana e il Capitalismo, Recanati, In-Corso-d’Opera, 2023. Pp. 164. € 18.00. ISBN: 978-88-947686-0-2

This booklet is extremely interesting for economic historians, political scientists and also for historians of economic policymaking. The three disciplines are well integrated and balanced to achieve a unitary discourse on the impact that the theory-in-use of the political party of the left (PDS, PD) had on the history of Italian reforms. The topic is the dismantling, after 1989, of the model of social capitalism in the name of free market fundamentalism. All this is studied in the case of Italy, with some spot on the rest of Europe in the post-War period. Although it deals with some specialistic knowledge, the style makes it accessible to a wide public. It may be interesting for didactic purposes at any level as well as it represents a stimulating scientific topic to be debated widely as it is original and provocative, going deep into the hot political issues.