The Economics of Education in Italy (1960-1975): An Outlook of Economic Planning

Abstract

Since 1960, Italian economic planning has been accompanied by studies on the corresponding development in manpower requirements and the means to satisfying them. A Svimez work in 1961 was the very first attempt to follow this issue. It certainly suffered from the absence of preliminary background studies, but equally opened the way to long-term social-economic forecasting. During the sixties, Svimez and Censis approached the question of wealth generation from investments in education more deeply, also contributing to the «Mediterranean Regional Project», the first major international experience of educational planning. The early utilization of the manpower forecasting approach directed scholars’ attention toward the economics of education, persuading some Italian economists to work in this field and to take the role of investments in human capital into a greater consideration.