The stagflation of the 1970s suddenly brought to light what farsighted economists, such as Edmund Phelps, had already foreseen in the previous decade: in the short term there may be a trade-off between inflation and unemployment, but not in the long term.10 This radical rethinking of the theory was accompanied by profound changes in the organization and behaviour of central banks.
In Summa Theologiae Thomas Aquinas said that truth was one of the values underlying social coexistence. The same holds for the economy and business, which must rest on an order made up of relationships and rules that include accounting standards. In Italy great masters laid the foundations of the art of accounting.