This concerns a report of a research entrusted to the Planning Studies Centre and the author (as mentioned above) by the Institute of Economic Planning (ISPE) on the ways and means of introducing the well-known “Planning-Programming-Budgeting-System” (PPBS) in Italy, which had already been introduced in some federal, state and local administrations in the USA. The introduction of this kind of system also in Italy would create, many years ahead, the opportunity to renew the methods of controlling the public expenditure and of improving the awareness of politicians and public administration managers as regards the effectiveness and the results of their programmes . The system met many obstacles during its introduction in the USA; and it is only recently that, with the GPRA Act of 1993, the conditions for an implementation of strategic planning in this country have been created on a large scale. However, the report of the research in question, entrusted to Professor Archibugi, was kept locked away in the drawers of the ISPE. A new edition (only in Italian) of this report – for which see summary– was produced in 1987.