This project aims to analyze, measure, and represent human well-being in Italy from 1950 to 1992, that is, the period characterized by massive public expenditure in the traditionally poor areas of the country, taking into account a series of indicators that integrate the purely economic ones.

From this perspective, Italy has taken many steps forward. The CNEL and Istat have promoted the Benessere Equo e Sostenibile (BES) indicator that encompasses 12 dimensions, including health, education and training, labor, and political institutions. However, the analysis is limited to recent years and is still exclusively reserved for economic sciences. Therefore, this project strives to extend the investigation to the past and expand it to other disciplines, specifically the range of historical ones. This attempt will involve choices, and even the 12 dimensions of the BES could vary their definition based on data obtainable from historical documentation.

For this purpose, the research will consider a broad set of quantitative and qualitative data, both unpublished (available in archives) and published. The Central Archives of the State (especially the Ministry of Budget and Economic Programming Archives), the Historical Archives of the Chamber of Deputies, and the Historical Archives of the Senate of the Republic will constitute fundamental points of reference. The Istat, CNEL, SVIMEZ Historical Archives, the State Archives, and the Chambers of Commerce and Industry Archives will also play a central role in the research activity.

Therefore, the project aims to develop a deeper understanding of the remarkable civil, social, economic, cultural, and political transformations and to assess the action and the role of the State in the modernization of the country.