The research which is presented with this report constitutes a deepening and further updating of a research line that has been carried out by the Centre for a long time, beginning in the 1970s, on request of the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning and the Institute of Economic Planning (ISPE) – see research “ Progetto Quadro ” (1971).

Recently, this research line has received some modest grants from the (Italian) National Research Council, which kept it from being completely extinguished, even if progress has been very hard and episodic*.

However, the centre came to a relatively satisfying conclusion, which can be considered a further step forward towards the outlining of a “ Reference Frame”, which would be suitable to guide programming processes and the strategic management of the national economy. The Quadprog” research report (carried out personally by Prof. Franco Archibugi) follows closely the reports of the “Progetto Quadro” – while improving its text (see its Index).

We have come to a point where we could proceed, if the CNR would find it opportune and possible, to arrange an international meeting among the best scholars of the matter in order to discuss the results of the research itself.

 

*The most recent contribution of the CNR is that of a contract (No. 95.01051.CT12) that has been carried out with great tardiness in 1998, given the cuts in respect to the yet-so-small demands of the centre, which made matters difficult and delayed the conclusions. We invite you to consult the Report of this research, which was, at that time, delivered to the CNR. The present Report is in connection with the last grant. The time spent is – we repeat – due to the need to optimise the scarce resources at our disposal, which the centre has not been able to obtain but with intermittent engagement. All this is generally connected with the deplorable state of the basic research in Italy.