Wartime Economics in Italy: National Accounting and Economic Planning

Abstract This article deals with the consequences of World War II on the study of national income and the changing approach to economic planning in Italy. It concentrates on Corrado Gini's original definition of national income in terms of well-being with respect to the meaning that will prevail after the war, which was instrumental for a planning policy. Both the development of an accounting system and attempts to implement economic planning contributed to the establishment of economic expertise and to the transformation of the language of economics.