When the papers collected in this issue of Recherches Economiques de Louvain were discussed in the Conference on the Italian Economy held at Louvain-la-Neuve in July 1974, Italy was running, together with the UK, a record balance of payments deficit, her creditworthiness was at a low ebb in international financial markets, and she was experiencing, after Japan, the highest inflation rate among OECD countries. These problems were compounded by an extremely weak political situation, managed by a Government that, after having resigned, had been sent back to Parliament for lack of an immediate alternative.