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Was "capitalist" always a tainted word? : the case of Italy
No full textToday the term “capitalism” is largely used to frame the market economy as a system designed to advance the interests of only capitalists. Before this use of the term “capitalism” gained traction, the word “capitalist” was already in circulation, however. The word was not tainted; it did not refer to a system of exploitation. In this paper, I will document the use of the word “capitalist” in the Italian language, through a search of the archives of the newspaper La Stampa in the period before the word “capitalism” came into common use. The evidence suggests that the word was a term that owners of the means of production used to refer to themselves, unlike today. The word was used positively in a process of self-identification by the Italian bourgeoisie as Italy slowly began to embrace a modern economy
La crisi, l’innovazione e lo Stato: su due libri di Mazzucato e Phelps
No full textWhat makes for an innovative society?The relevance of this question is apparent as our societies are struggling to exit a deep economic crisis. Mariana Mazzucato (in her book The Entrepreneurial State) and Edmund Phelps (in his book Mass Flourishing) trace innovation back to very different sources: widespread government intervention, or culture. This paper reviews Mazzucato’s thesis and finds it unpersuasive. The evidence she provides doesn’t seem to support the idea that government can pick winners of the competitive game. Innovation in society is more likely to the the outcome of a complex process, than of industrial policies only
Francesco Ferrara and Vilfredo Pareto, Readers of Frèdèric Bastiat
No full textFrédéric Bastiat (1801-1850) had a considerable influence on Italian debates. In this paper, I will consider how two giants of Italian economics, Francesco Ferrara (1810-1900) and Vilfredo Pareto (1848-1923), read and understood Bastiat.
Both Ferrara and Pareto were classical liberals and shared many of Bastiat’s values, but each viewed Bastiat’s contributions differently. Both their agreements and criticisms may help us better appreciate Bastiat’s originality.
Bastiat had a profound influence on Pareto’s basic understanding of government institutions, which he built into a complete political theory. Ferrara investigated in detail the theories of the French economists, including Bastiat, and highlighted points of originality that are still today not properly appreciated.
The influence of Bastiat over European economists of his time not being fully appreciated, I hope this paper may help in understanding the extent he helped his contemporaries and successors to focus their own thinking
Conoscenze disperse e presunzioni fatali: l'economia politica di Thomas Hodgskin
No full textIn 1827, Thomas Hodgskin found fault with Adam Smith for not having fully accounted for the role of knowledge in economic growth and progress. "His Popular Political Economy" can be considered a manifesto for Hodgskin's laissez faire philosophy. Though revering the Wealth of Nations, Hodgskin stressed population growth and the consequent increase in the availability of ideas and thus innovation as the primary causes of economic progress. He reversed the Malthusian population principle, making an increased population a powerful driver of growth. This paper argues that Hodgskin anticipates some of the key insights of the Austrian economist and political philosopher F.A. von Hayek, particularly the idea that knowledge is dispersed in society and it cannot actually be processed by any single decision making authority. While Hodgskin is typically considered a forerunner of Marxian socialism, this paper claims his thinking fits better with the general framework of the classical liberal tradition. His emphasis on the virtues of dispersed knowledge in society fuelled his suspicion about governments
Le «vocazioni» e la trama della modernità
No full textIn his paper «La contingenza della contingenza», Luca Diotallevi reminds us
of the crucial role Christianity played in the making of capitalist modernity. This paper
provides a few, impressionistic comments regarding the role of the concept of «vocation»
in the underpinning of a modern market economy. The Industrial Revolution can be
explained by a change in culture, which consisted in the public recognition of dignity
and value to mercantile and artisanal jobs. Different «vocations» found their home
in a modern economy, as has recently been emphasized by Deirdre N. McCloskey. To
what extent is the very vocabulary of a market economy indebted to Christianity? How
can concepts and words that are the pillars of a modern market economy survive in a
context which is so culturally different? Can new forms of «spirituality» play the very
same role Christianity had
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