Alain Alcouffe is Professor Emeritus at Toulouse University, France, and has published many articles and book chapters on industrial and regional economics, economics of knowledge, economics of education and history of economic thought. Monika Poettinger teaches economic history and history of economic thought at Bocconi University, Milan, Italy. She has published many articles and book chapters on the industrialization process in Italy, merchant networks and German entrepreneurial migrations. Bertram Schefold is Senior Professor at Fachbereich Wirtschaftswissenschaften Goethe-Universität, Germany. He has published more than 40 books and 250 articles on economic theory, history of economic thought, energy policy and general economic policy. He edited the series Klassiker der Nationalökonomie.

• IntroductionPart One: Economic AnalysisChapter 1:Mistaking a phase of endogenous growth with a new role for the State for a "Great Depression". The recent financial crisis compared to that of 1873-1979 Maurice BasléChapter 2:The growth of capital in business cycle theories of the 19th century Bertram SchefoldChapter 3:The Italian Takeoff in the late Nineteenth Century Antonio De Viti De Marco, Maffeo Pantaleoni and Francesco Saverio Nitti on Economic Growth and Business Cycles Piero Bini Chapter 4:Keynes, Wages and Employment in Light of the Great Depression Harald Hagemann Chapter 5:Kaldor and Robinson on the business cycle: a closed chapter of postkeynesian economics? Bertram Schefold Chapter 6:Post-crisis learning – Opening the debate about the forgetfulness of the mainstream economic models of the European “Sixties” (1945–1975) Maurice BasléChapter 7:Early approaches to international business cycle analysis Hans-Michael TrautweinPart Two: Economic PolicyChapter 8:Views about public debt: German versus British classical economists Carl-Ludwig HoltfrerichChapter 9:Social spending: its role in economic recovery processes and beyond. Arguments from the 19th to mid-20th Centuries Sandrine MichelChapter 10:Corporative Economics and the Making of Economic Policy in Italy during the Interwar Years (1922-1940) Piero BiniChapter 11:French Planning: How to cope with Business Cycles? Alain Alcouffe Chapter 12:From Ideas’ Cycle to Economic Cycle: the refoundation of liberalism (1929 to 1985) Arnaud Diemer