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Interwar years (1919-1939) are a crucial moment in world history. In the two decades running from the end of the First World War to the beginning of the second, economic and political momentous changes took place. These events have been interpreted by different approaches. In a nutshell, the political science research has analyzed the rise of fascism and Nazism and the economic history approach has studied the causes and effects of the 1929 crisis, the crisis of the international monetary system and the effects of protectionist policies on international trade and economic growth.

In this paper we analyze the interwar years from the perspective of two great authors of the twentieth century: Karl Polanyi and William Arthur Lewis. As it is known, Polanyi in The Great Transformation (1944) analyzes the historical and economic development European economies in order to understand the causes that led to the rise of totalitarian regimes and to the crisis of capitalism. From a different perspective, Lewis, in his essay entitled Economic Survey 1919-1939 (1949), analyzes in comparative way the main economic phenomena that affected the major world economies during the interwar years. The work of Lewis is much less known than that of Polanyi although, as will be put in evidence, is the first attempt of Lewis to explain which are the sources of economic growth.

The comparison of these two great writers can deepen and broaden the spectrum of interpretations so far offered to explain complex phenomena like the political, economic and social transformations that have occurred during the interwar years. At the same time, we will highlight what factors Polanyi and Lewis considered crucial to achieve a higher level of economic prosperity.