ABSTRACT
During the years 1950 to 1963 the European economies grew at a faster rate than ever before and Italy's grew faster than most, particularly between 1958 and 1963, a period which came to be known as 'the economic miracle'. After 1957, with the entry of Italy into the European Economic Community (EEC), foreign demand became of paramount importance. Those who seek to analyse Italian economic development purely in terms of economic decisions separately from political considerations can construct a credible alternative scenario of how the Italian economy might have developed. The contribution of tourism and emigration was remarkable even in the years of the economic miracle. Investments in agriculture were state investments or state-induced investments directed towards modernization. In the first five years the Cassa established rural infrastructures, developed land reclamation projects, and subsidized the agrarian reform. This was of benefit to agriculture.
