Corporative economics and the making of economic policy in Italy during the interwar years (1922-1940)

This paper deals with two main topics. To begin with, we present our interpretation of the complex phenomenon of corporative economics during the Italian fascist regime. We discuss whether it was mere propaganda in a meta-theoretical disguise, or an attempt (albeit clumsy) to adapt the institutions to the structural economic changes that had occurred in the preceding decades. The second task we address is reconstruction of the Italian economists’ contributions to economic policy during the fascist period. In this regard, we have organized our analysis in three sub-periods: the first, the so-called fascist liberist period, goes from 1922 to 1925; the second goes from 1926 to 1929, the main policy being the revaluation of the Italian lira; the third, from 1930 on, was characterised by various attempts to address business cycles and economic crisis.