CARLO M. CIPOLLA (1922-2000), reoutat istoric italian, pasionat de economie, a studiat la Sorbona si la London School of Economics. Pe parcursul indelungatei sale cariere academice, a predat istoria economiei la University of California, Berkeley, la Institutul European din Florenta si la Scuola Normale din Pisa. A mai publicat, printre altele: Storia dell'economia italiana (1959), Economic History of World Population (1962), The Economic Decline of Empires (1970), The Technology of Man: A Visual History (1980), Allegro ma non troppo (1988), Between Two Cultures: An Introduction to Economic History (1992).