Rise and decline of economic policy as an autonomous discipline: a critical survey

Acocella, Nicola (2014) Rise and decline of economic policy as an autonomous discipline: a critical survey. Working Paper. Dipartimento di Metodi e modelli per l'economia, il territorio e la finanza (MEMOTEF), Roma.

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Abstract

After Smith’s statement of the market virtues the process of gestation of economic policy as a consistent set of rules for public agenda has been rather slow. Until not so long ago economic policy as a discipline was confined to prescribing practical rules intended to explain technical procedures of government intervention. Economic policy as a coherent and to some extent autonomous discipline emerged in the late 1950s in Scandinavian countries, the Netherlands and Italy, when solid foundations indicating market failures and a theory about conditions for policy effectiveness and design had been developed. This paper intends to explain the reasons for its emergence, the circumstances which helped it to be taught in many Scandinavian, Dutch and Italian universities and a few other European ones, the reasons for its apparent setback and some factors that could facilitate its diffusion in the next years.

Item Type: Monograph (Working Paper)
Additional Information: Working paper del Dipartimento di Metodi e modelli per l'economia il territorio e la finanza, Università di Roma La Sapienza, ISSN 2239608X; Working paper n.123 March 2014
Uncontrolled Keywords: Economic policy, Welfare economics, Theory of economic policy, History of economic thought
Subjects: 300 Scienze sociali > 330 Economia
Depositing User: Marco Martini
Date Deposited: 08 Apr 2014 12:35
Last Modified: 08 Apr 2014 12:35
URI: http://eprints.bice.rm.cnr.it/id/eprint/8725

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