From Economia Civile to Kameralwissenschaften. The line of descent from Genovesi to Beccaria in pre-Smithian Europe

The Pied Piper: Prizes, Incentives, and Motivation Crowding-in

“…Individuals are fundamentally egoistic, and even when they entertain social interactions, they only do so in an instrumental manner. This reductionist approach to human behavior subsequently conflated into the utilitarian philosophy of Beccaria, Bentham, and basically all mainstream economists since Adam Smith (Porta, 2018). For Genovesi, instead, both forces are primitives of human nature (Bruni and Santori, 2018).…”

Is Relationality Always Other-Oriented? Adam Smith, Catholic Social Teaching, and Civil Economy

“…Alongside the similarities, being both modern school of economic thought rooted in different forms of Enlightenment traditions (Scottish and Italian), scholars have stressed the differences. Many studies have been dedicated to the civil economy tradition (Bellamy 1987;Bruni and Porta 2003;Bruni 2018a;Bruni and Zamagni 2016;Dal Degan 2018;Pabst 2018;Pabst and Scazzieri 2019;Porta 2018;Robertson 2005). Here I want to highlight two specific kinds of contribution: the ones which consider the civil economy within the broader discourse of spirits of capitalism (Bruni 2018b;Bruni and Milbank 2019;Milbank and Pabst 2016;Zamagni 2010b); and the ones which investigate civil economy's anthropology (Bruni 2018a;Bruni and Sugden 2008;Santori 2020).…”

What Mutual Assistance Is, and What It Could Be in the Contemporary World

“…Genovesi’s contribution to the economic debate of his time has been the object of growing interest in the history of ideas, starting from the seminal works of Bruni and Sugden ( 2000 ), Bruni ( 2006 ) and Bruni and Zamagni ( 2007 ). Recent contributions have inquired about the intellectual and philosophical foundations of his thought (Bruni & Santori, 2018 ; Pabst, 2018 ), highlighting its interconnections with an international debate (Porta, 2018 ) or stressing its similarities and common inheritance with Smith’s ( 1759 ) theory of relationships (Dal Degan, 2018 ). Different authors have offered various interpretations and highlighted diverse elements, and the resulting picture is complex and rich.…”

“…Genovesi was a reputable theologian and a moral philosopher who studied economics to make sense of the rapid growth of commercial societies and its moral implications. His writings can be read as attempts to establish new ethical and anthropological foundations of a harmonious social order under economic development (Bruni & Sugden, 2000 , 2008 ; Bruni, 2006 ; Dal Degan, 2018 ; Porta, 2018 ). His view arose out of an attempt to mediate between the veteres (old school) of Giovanbattista Vico, Pietro Giannone and Paolo Mattia Doria and the novatores (new school) of Celestino Galiani and Bartolomeo Intieri (Bruni, 2006 ; Bruni & Sugden, 2000 ).…”

“…The CE is an economic approach rooted in the Italian Enlightenment tradition, particularly in the thought of Antonio Genovesi (1713–1769) and further developed by the Italian economists Luigino Bruni and Stefano Zamagni (Bruni, 2006 ; Bruni & Zamagni, 2007 ; Zamagni, 2008 ). This approach has given rise to a promising strand of studies in the fields of economic philosophy (Bruni & Sugden, 2008 , 2013 ), history of economic thought (Zamagni, 2010 ; Bruni & Zamagni, 2016 ; Bruni, 2018a ; Bruni, 2018b ; Bruni & Santori, 2018 ; Dal Degan, 2018 ; Pabst, 2018 ; Porta, 2018 ; Pabst & Scazzieri, 2019 ; Santori, 2020 ) and business ethics (Martino, 2020 ; Sferrazzo, 2019 ; Zamagni, 2020 ). Martino ( 2020 ) particularly stresses the potentialities of CE ethics to foster trust in the absence of a regulatory framework, given the importance that CE assigns to virtue-based behaviour.…”