NUOVE PROSPETTIVE NEGLI STUDI ECONOMICI SULL’ILLUMINISMO LOMBARDO

Abstract

New perspectives in the economic studies of the Lombard enlightenment. Since World War II there has been an increasing interest in the Italian Enlightenment. This could be partly explained as a response to the emerging need for deeper understanding of the roots of Western culture and of the civic values that had been so much shattered by the traumatic experiences of a new kind of war ravaging Europe and other parts of the world. Political Economy – that was originally called Civil Economy in eighteenth century Naples – was indeed prominent in the Italian Enlightenment, although that historical fact has only been imperfectly reflected in much of recent historiography. There is, however, a new developing line of investigation that puts Political Economy at the core of research into the Italian enlightenment. The Conference sponsored by the Istituto Lombardo Accademia di Scienze e Lettere focussed precisely on the Political Economy that featured so prominent in the theoretical contributions and policy proposals of the Lombard enlightenment. This essay mainly reflects the canon of the Schumpeterian approach to the history of economic analysis. This implies the consideration of different historical periods with the aim of bringing out those research strands that contribute to the identity of the Italian tradition of economic thought and analysis.