This paper examines public expenditure in the Italian public finance literature between the end of the nineteenth century and the early decades of the twentieth century. Three aspects are considered: the factors that determine the growth of public expenditure; integration of the tax and...

The essay examines various aspects of the teaching of public finance in the Italian universities during the period of thirty years 1915-1945: the academic staff; the chair competitions; the main textbooks; the main theoretical contributions of public finance scholars.