Professor Nicholas Kaldor delivered the Mattioli Lectures on ‘Causes of Growth and Stagnation in the World Economy’ in May 1984. The participants were numerous and listened to the lectures with attention and – one dares to say – passion. Many looked forward to reading the written version because the Author both expanded and detailed the dualistic growth model based on the interaction between two sectors – agriculture vs industry or developing countries vs developed ones – and offered many insights – sometimes quite provocative – on fundamental problems.

As usual one Italian scholar acted as liaison between the Author and the Scientific Commitee – Professor Carlo Filippini. The preparation of the volume was suspended because of Professor Kaldor's death in 1986. As time was rapidly passing and many works were being published either on Kaldor's ideas and theories or as collected papers, a few problems arose on how to edit the material – a provisional written text and the recorded one delivered at Bocconi University.

Many urged the print of the book because of the relevance of the topics dealt with in the 1984 Mattioli Lectures and of the contributions they offered. In the end, Professor Antony P. Thirlwall was asked to edit the Lectures avoiding major alterations to the text while providing if and when deemed necessary additional notes, references and tables. Professor Thirlwall accepted and provided the final text with Professor Ferdinando Targetti as coeditor.