Series | I libri di Ca’ Foscari
Edited book | Eccellenze cafoscarine nella storia del Dipartimento di Economia
Chapter | Francesco Ferrara, il primo degli economisti cafoscarini
Francesco Ferrara, il primo degli economisti cafoscarini
Abstract
The paper presents the important personality of the great Italian economist Francesco Ferrara who has been the first Director of the new School of Commerce founded in Venice in 1868. The paper is divided into two parts: the first part presents the main features of Francesco Ferrara as an economist, showing how he was clearly a supporter of a free-market oriented vision of the economic analysis and of the economic policy, not liking at all a vision of the economic analysis separated from the political implications, but definitely favouring a political economy vision. He was a sharp opponent of socialism, although admiring the logical power of Marx’s thought, but not Marxian ideas. But he was also an opponent of intermediate visions leading to mediations in the field of economic policy. His rather radical positions led him to resign from the role of minister of Finance. In the second part, the paper shows how Ferrara accepted Luigi Luzzatti’s proposal to be appointed as director of the new School of Commerce of Ca’ Foscari in summer 1868; the paper shows how the relations between Ferrara and Luzzatti were characterised by polemical moments, both because of the lines followed by Ferrara in appointing the professors of the new school and because of the openness shown by Luzzatti, and not liked at all by Ferrara, towards policies showing a favourable attitude towards social interventions. Eventually the disagreements were solved. Finally, the paper shows how Ferrara succeeded in appointing at Ca’ Foscari some of the most important Italian economists of his time, such as Maffeo Pantaleoni.
Submitted: June 20, 2022 | Published Nov. 14, 2022 | Language: it
Keywords Ferrara • History of economic thought • Economic methodology • Obituaries
Copyright © 2022 Riccardo Faucci. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/978-88-6969-642-8/002
