Stefano Spalletti

A Comparative Analysis of the Relationship Between Friedrich List and French and Italian Culture

Friedrich List combines different political inspirations, often due to the French and Italian environments. To know the first, this chapter reconstructs the influence List receives during his stays in Paris. These experiences are important in writing his works and lead to identifying a “think tank” from which List takes and gives. Namely, all List’s work takes into account the influence of Jean-Baptiste Say; albeit always criticized, an entire chapter of the Nationale System is devoted to this author. The other French economists that influence his work are Chaptal, Dupin and Ferrier. Then, after giving space to List’s claims on the Italian economic history, the chapter focuses on the author’s attitude to being received in Italy; a country similar to Germany, from the perspective of that nation’s political and economic fragmentation. In this case, List’s influence appears tempered by various doctrinal and practical elements due to the germanesimo economico.

Methodology, theory and inquiry in Italian economic and social thought: The making of Francesco Coletti

Abstract During the first decades of the twentieth century, Italian economist Francesco Coletti (1866–1940) was recognised as an authority on emigration and agricultural economics. We intend to focus here on Colettis early career to understand how he rapidly managed to secure an enviable reputation. We examine Colettis interventions on economic semiology and measurement of national wealth. We then move on to a series of theoretical debates (notably on Marxs theory of value) to which Coletti made significant contributions. Finally, we survey Colettis fieldwork in agriculture and emigration, topics that allowed for connecting theoretical issues, methodological constraints, and empirical data.

Capitale umano e fenomeni migratori (1776-1962): una rassegna

L’articolo analizza dal punto di vista storico e teorico il rapporto tra capitale umano e migrazioni. In particolare, descrive un percorso in cui diverse teorie considerano i migranti come agenti economici che, spostandosi geograficamente, tentano di accedere a opportunita di reddito piu elevate, incrementando cosi l’ef¬fetto dei loro guadagni nel ciclo vitale. Tale ricostruzione va dalla comparsa della prima rudimentale teoria del capitale umano di Adam Smith (1776) fino alla moderna prospettiva teorica di Larry Sjaastad (1962), che fa perno sul grado di trasferibilita delle conoscenze e competenze proprio attraverso i fenomeni migratori. Seguendo questa traiettoria, l’articolo sostiene che i procedimenti che si utilizzano entro la teoria del capitale umano consolidano, anche nell’applicazione ai fenomeni migratori, un approccio metodologico che fa riferimento all’analisi costi-benefici. Oltre che in alcuni riferimenti alla cultura economica classica o addirittura precedente, cio e individuabile seguendo tre snodi storiografici significativi: il dibattito europeo sul valore economico della vita umana tra Otto e Novecento; il confronto di matrice statunitense sul valore dell’uomo a fini assicurativi negli anni ’30; l’analisi sui differenziali salariali decretato dal successo della Chicago School nei primi anni ’60.

The Economics of Education in Italy (1960-1975): An Outlook of Economic Planning

Since 1960, Italian economic planning has been accompanied by studies on the corresponding development in manpower requirements and the means to satisfying them. A Svimez work in 1961 was the very first attempt to follow this issue. It certainly suffered from the absence of preliminary background studies, but equally opened the way to long-term social-economic forecasting. During the sixties, Svimez and Censis approached the question of wealth generation from investments in education more deeply, also contributing to the «Mediterranean Regional Project», the first major international experience of educational planning. The early utilization of the manpower forecasting approach directed scholars’ attention toward the economics of education, persuading some Italian economists to work in this field and to take the role of investments in human capital into a greater consideration.

Gli economisti italiani e il valore economico della vita umana (1893-1908)

The article provides an historiographic interpretation on the debate among Vilfredo Pareto, Alberto Beneduce, Francesco Coletti and Guido Sensini on the «Giornale degli economisti» (1863-1908). The topic of the discussion is the economic value of human life, mainly with reference to nurture costs of a man and human capital evaluation. The research of Ernst Engel influenced the ideas of Italian economists, which display a distinct interest in the productive use of human resources. However, they do not let foresee the importance that training and education will hold in the theory of economic development in the second half of the twentieth century.