National award for science education, Gioacchino Garofoli among the finalists

Gioacchino Garofoli, the lecturer in Economic Policy at Insubria University, is among the finalists in the National award for scientific education, with his book “Economia e politica economica in Italia. Lo sviluppo economico italiano da 1945 ad oggi” (Economics and Economic Policy In Italy. Italian economic development, from 1945 until today, published by FrancoAngeli), which has been selected from among the 525 works presented, including books and articles, by a total of 677 authors.

The award is organised by the Associazione Italiana del Libro (the Italian Book Association), with the support of the CNR (the Italian national research council) and the AIRI (the Italian association for industrial research). The media partners are the Science Almanac, edited by the press office of the CNR, and the CNR’s Web TV. The award ceremony will be held on Friday, 19 December in Rome, in the CNR Congress Hall (Piazza Aldo Moro), at 3 p.m.

Garofoli’s book talks about the evolution of the Italian economy from the end of the Second World War until today, describing the problems that appeared during the various periods, and the economic policies that were adopted. The text starts with the years of the economic reconstruction and with the choices of development model which, for at least 20 years, characterised Italy. The book analyses the years of “economic miracle” (1953-1963) and the years of missed opportunities (1963-1970), and also the periods of great change in the 1970s, with the oil crisis and the change to floating exchange rates, until the 1980s, with progressive integration into the European economy and the introduction of the European monetary system, to the last few decades, which have been greatly characterised by the construction of the European monetary system and the resulting deflationary policies in Italy and in Europe.

The book ends with a discussion of the warning signs, and then of the effects of the great economic and financial crisis in which we find ourselves. The language used is simple because the book is intended for students of economics on three-year undergraduate courses, and for introduction courses in economics for non-economics degrees. The text can also be used by anyone that wants to know about the economic choices that were made in the past, about questions brought up today, and about the opportunities for the near future.

Read the review by Lelio Dimichelis

Gioacchino Garofoli

has also published “Development on the Ground” (Routledge, 2007), “Endogenous Development and Southern Europe” (Avebury, 1992), “Economia del Territorio” (Economics of the Territory – Etaslibri, 1992), “Modelli locali di sviluppo” (Local development models – FrancoAngeli, 1991), “Industrializzazione diffusa in Lombardia” (Widespread industrialisation in Lombardy – FrancoAngeli, 2011), “Impresa e territorio” (Enterprise and Territory – il Mulino, 2003).