The study at hand refers to the recent historical period from 1944 to 2000. It highlights issues that are still relevant today and attempts to reconcile the needs of the informed citizen with the demands of the expert.

This study is not simply a chronological account of economic events, decisions in economic and social policy, and institutional changes. On the contrary, it aims for broader syntheses, reveals long-term trends, and proposes the necessary interpretations for discussion.

To this end, it utilizes theory and the potential of scientific dialogue between history-narrative and political and economic theory. Consequently, it establishes a discourse in favor of historiography, applying as clearly as possible, and coherently, interpretative frameworks.

In the pages of this book, our post-war history appears as a drama unfolding on that great front where the imperatives (pressures, needs) of the international system meet the internal political and social forces or, in other terms, where the tension between Market and State manifests.

[Excerpt from the text on the back cover of the edition]