Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-xtgtn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-24T08:20:28.241Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

ANTONIO DE VITI DE MARCO, THE PRINCIPLE OF MINIMUM MEANS, AND POLITICAL COMPETITION

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 April 2019

Amedeo Fossati  and
Marcello Montefiori
Amedeo Fossati
Affiliation:
University of Genoa.
Marcello Montefiori
Affiliation:
University of Genoa.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In contrast to the common maxims for good taxation, Antonio De Viti de Marco revolutionized public finance studies by placing collective economic activity within a theoretical framework and trying to explain concrete fiscal phenomena such as tax incidence or public debt. The polar cases of cooperative and monopolistic states and the state factor of production are usually considered characteristics of such a framework. Here, we remark that De Viti’s theory of the cooperative state appears grounded only on the principles of minimum means and of political competition, and on the assumption that individual income is a proxy of individual consumption of general public services. Thus, it appears that the characteristics might be inessential to the real core of his theoretical framework. Moreover, we claim that his theoretical framework was not actually applied in his explanation of concrete fiscal phenomena. Finally, we remark that he seldom employed marginal tools in his Principî.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of the History of Economic Thought , Volume 41 , Issue 2 , June 2019 , pp. 237 - 253
Copyright
Copyright © The History of Economics Society 2019 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Asso, Pier F., and Fiorito, Luca. 2001. “Dalla periferia al nuovo mondo. La diffusione del pensiero economico italiano negli Stati Uniti: 1890–1940.” In Quaderni di ricerche Ente Einaudi 23, Rome, pp. 1–236.Google Scholar
Barucci, Piero. 1972. “The Spread of Marginalism in Italy (1871–1890).” History of Political Economy 4 (2): 512–531.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Benham, Frederick C. 1934. “Review of Principii Di Economia Finanziaria; Grundlehren Der Finanzwirtschaft.” Economica 1 (3): 364–367.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Besley, Timothy. 2007. Principled Agents? The Political Economy of Good Government. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Buchanan, James. 1960. “‘La scienza delle Finanze’: The Italian Tradition in Fiscal Theory.” In Buchanan, J., ed., Fiscal Theory and Political Economy: Selected Essays. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, pp. 24–74.Google Scholar
Da Empoli, Domenico. 1995. “A proposito del ‘carattere teorico dell’economia finanziaria.’” In Pedone, A., ed., Antonio De Viti de Marco. Bari: Laterza, pp. 51–54.Google Scholar
De Viti de Marco, Antonio. 1888. Il carattere teorico dell’economia finanziaria . Rome: Pasqualucci.Google Scholar
De Viti de Marco, Antonio. 1890. “L’industria dei telefoni e l’esercizio di stato.” Giornale degli Economisti 1: 279–306.Google Scholar
De Viti de Marco, Antonio. 1928. I primi principî dell’economia finanziaria. Rome: Sampaolesi.Google Scholar
De Viti de Marco, Antonio. 1936. First Principles of Public Finance. London: Jonathan Cape.Google Scholar
De Viti de Marco, Antonio. 1939. Principî di economia finanziaria. Torino: Einaudi.Google Scholar
Einaudi, Luigi. 1942. “Scienza e storia, o dello stacco dello studioso dalla cosa studiata.” Rivista di Storia Economica (Mar.): 30–37.Google Scholar
Einaudi, Luigi. 1943. “Ipotesi astratte ed ipotesi storiche e dei giudizi di valore nelle scienze economiche.” Regia Accademia delle Scienze 78 (2): 57–119.Google Scholar
Eusepi, Giuseppe, and Wagner, Richard E.. 2012. “Indebted State versus Intermediary State: Who Owes What to Whom.” Constitutional Political Economy 23: 199–212.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eusepi, Giuseppe, and Wagner, Richard E.. 2013. “Tax Prices in a Democratic Polity: The Continuing Relevance of Antonio De Viti de Marco.” History of Political Economy 45 (1): 98–121.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fasiani, Mauro. 1951. Principii di Scienza delle Finanze. Torino: Giappichelli.Google Scholar
Fausto, Domenicantonio. 1995. “I ‘Principii di Economia finanziaria’ nella letteratura straniera.” In Pedone, A., ed., Antonio De Viti de Marco. Bari: Laterza, pp. 80–102.Google Scholar
Fossati, Amedeo. 2006. “Needs, the Principle of Minimum Means, and Public Goods in De Viti de Marco.” Journal of the History of Economic Thought 28 (4): 427–443.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fossati, Amedeo. 2013. “The Double Taxation of Savings: The Italian Debate Revisited.” History of Political Economy 45 (1): 123–148.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fossati, Amedeo. 2014. “Luigi Einaudi e Mauro Fasiani: il dibattito epistemologico dal 1941 al 1943.” Il pensiero economico italiano 22 (1): 87–148.Google Scholar
Fossati, Amedeo. 2016. “The First Principles of Public Finance by Antonio de Viti de Marco: Is There Any Disparity between the Assessments of the Italian- and the English-Speaking Scholars? Studi Economici 67 (108): 5–81.Google Scholar
Fossati, Amedeo. 2017. “A Note on Luigi Einaudi’s Epistemological Doubts in a Recently Published Manuscript.” History of Economic Ideas 3: 147–153.Google Scholar
Fossati, Amedeo. Forthcoming. “Review of M. Mosca, Monopoly Power and Competition. The Italian Marginalist Perspective.” History of Political Economy.Google Scholar
Fossati, Amedeo, and and Silvestri, Paolo. 2012. “Un inedito dissidio epistemologico sui Miti e paradossi della giustizia tributaria di Einaudi: le lettere perdute di Mauro Fasiani.” Studi Economici 67 (108): 5–81.Google Scholar
Giuranno, Michele, and Mosca, Manuela. 2015. “Political Realism and Models of the State. Antonio de Viti de Marco and the Origins of Public Choice.” Polis working paper, n. 232.Google Scholar
Maupertuis, Pierre-Louis Moreau de. 1751. Essai de cosmologie. N.p.Google Scholar
McLure, Michael. 2006. “The ‘Pareto School’ and the Giornale Degli Economisti. A Short Bibliographical Note.” Proceedings of the 19th HETSA Conference, University of Ballarat.Google Scholar
McLure, Michael. 2007. The Paretian School and Italian Fiscal Sociology. Houndsmill and New York: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Medema, Steven G. 2005. “Marginalizing Government: From la scienza delle finanze to Wicksell .” History of Political Economy 37 (1): 1–25.Google Scholar
Medema, Steven G. 2016. “His Influence in the Anglo-Saxon World.” In Mosca, M., ed., Antonio de Viti de Marco. A Story Worth Remembering. Houndsmill and New York: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 115–118.Google Scholar
Mosca, Manuela. 2018a. “Competition in Public Finance. From De Viti de Marco’s Lectures to his Principles.” In Cardoso, J. L., Kurz, H., and Steiner, P., eds., Economic Analysis in Historical Perspective. London: Routledge, pp. 176–186.Google Scholar
Mosca, Manuela. 2018b. Monopoly Power and Competition. The Italian Marginalist Perspective, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Owen, Robert. 1813. A New View of Society . London: Printed for Cadell and Davies by R. Taylor and Co.Google Scholar
Persson, Torsten, and Guido, Tabellini. 2000. Political Economics: Explaining Economic Policy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Petretto, Alessandro. 2014. “The Modern Theory of Regulation as an Inheritance of De Viti de Marco’s Cooperative State.” DISEI Working Paper 21/2014. www.disei.unifi.it/upload/sub/pubblicazioni/repec/pdf/wp21_2014.pdf. Accessed 21 December 2018.Google Scholar
Rossi, Ernesto. 1926. “Le prime basi teoriche della finanza dello stato democratico .” La Riforma Sociale XXXVII: 140–156.Google Scholar
Simons, Henry. 1937. “First Principles of Public Finance by Antonio De Viti De Marco – Grundlehren der Finanzwirtschaft. A. De Viti De Marco.” Journal of Political Economy 45 (5): 712–717.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Steve, Sergio. 1995. “La Finanza di Antonio de Viti de Marco.” In Pedone, A., ed., Antonio De Viti de Marco . Bari: Laterza, pp. 35–54.Google Scholar