The course aims to offer students the theoretical foundations and the historical profile of the relationship between state and market. On the theoretical level, some classical paradigms will be dealt with (liberalism, Keynesism, Marxism, neo-liberalism), facing a series of authors, problems and epochs in an anthological way. On the historical level, particular attention will be given to the Italian experience, revisited from the unitary period up to the present day, with particular regard to the history of the "industrial state" and the scientific debate that has aroused.