La teoria dell'oligopolio nella tradizione paretiana

The study of oligopolistic markets has been a very active research area in the period between the two world wars. The Paretians participated actively in the debate, starting from the Pareto’s theory, and indeed with Luigi Amoroso they played an important role. The Italian economist was considered at European level as the most authoritative defender of the Cournot model. Also Arrigo Bordin and Felice Vinci offered important contributions. In the forties Emilio Zaccagnini, a student in Turin of Bordin, developed a very original version of the Pareto’s theory. The critical reconstruction of the Paretian approach to the oligopoly theory can contribute to explain the complex history of the Cournot model that only in the fifties, and in the new context of game theory, become the dominant approach in the Theory of non-competitive markets. Keywords: Paretian School; Luigi Amoroso; history of the Cournot model.