"Originally published in Italy as Le leggi fondamentali della stupiditáa umana by Societáa editrica il Mulino, Bologna in 1988. Originally published in English by Societáa editrica il Mulino, Bolonga, in 2011, and subsequently in Great Britain by WH Allen, an imprint of Ebury Publishing..., London, in 2019"--Copyright page.

CARLO M. CIPOLLA (1922-2000) was an Italian economic historian, Fulbright Fellow and professor at the University of California, Berkeley. Cipolla was awarded the International Balzan Prize for Economic History in 1995 and held honorary degrees in Italy and Switzerland. His classic treatise The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity was first published in 1988 and has been published in more than ten languages. Originally written in English, this is the first time it's being published in the US.