In Italy, the Antonio Feltrinelli International Prize is the highest
award offered to a non-Italian scientist. The award is decided
and governed by the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, the oldest
academic honorary society in the world, an institution founded
in 1604 and of which Galileo Galilei was one of the founders.
In 2005, the Feltrinelli International Prize for Contributions to
Economic and Social Sciences was awarded to Professor William
J. Baumol, a member of the Accademia, at a ceremony in Rome.
At that meeting, Professor Baumol addressed the members of
Lincei, and that lecture, considerably expanded, became the
basis of this book
I was led to begin work on this book in 2005, when I prepared my talk for the award of the Antonio Feltrinelli International Prize for Economic and Social Sciences at the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, the oldest of the world's learned societies, in Rome. In connection with this honor, I will always be indebted to my friend Professor Luigi Pasinetti, to whose efforts I must accredit the award, gratitude thereby added to my admiration of his work.
This book can be described as my third try—my once-more reiterated attempt to bring systematic growth theory into the domain of microeconomics, from which it is now largely excluded. As I will argue in the introduction, in terms of the comparative importance of static and dynamic analysis, as evaluated in terms of the welfare implications of microeconomics, the current literature has the matter standing on its head. The really important part of the story of economic well-being is all but banished from the literature. In particular, the near total omission of innovative entrepreneurs and their role is a major element in this curious state of affairs.