Profile Major Works Resources

Francesco Ferrara, 1810-1900


Italian classical liberal economist.

Sicilian economist, professor at Turin, politician and briefly Italian Minister of Finance.

Francesco Ferrara  presented many of his ideas in the critical "prefaces" he authored to a series of Italian translations of the works of the classical economists published as the Biblioteca dell' Economisti in the 1850s.  He was an ardent believer in laissez-faire "economic harmonies" in the Manchester School sense, a supporter of the Cavourist liberal regime in Italy and an early free banking proponent.  Ferrara also promoted a utility-based theory of value, and so is sometimes also considered to be an important proto-Neoclassical.  

Francesco Ferrara was a founder of the Società di economia politica in Turin in 1852.  He was also the principal force behind the formation of the Società Adamo Smith in Florence in 1874, in an effort to combat the rising influence of the historicist Lombard-Venetian School  

Francesco Ferrara is also regarded as the progenitor of the Italian "Fiscalist" school.   Ferrara's conception of public finance examined the interface of the interrelationship between State fiscal policy and social interest.  He was highly influential on Maffeo Pantaleoni and, through him, de Viti de Marco.  James Buchanan has credited Ferrara as the "grandfather" of the Public Choice school.   

 

  

top1.gif (924 bytes)Top

Major Works of Francesco Ferrara

  • Editor, Biblioteca dell' Economisti, 1850-70
  • "Il germanismo economico in Italia", 1874, Nuova Antologia.
  • "T. Chalmers e la influenz reciproca delle industrie", 1855, Biblioteca dell' Economista (ser.1, v.8) [repr. 1889 EC, v.1.2,  p.1]
  • "La vita e le opere di Pellegrino Rossi", 1855,   1855, Biblioteca dell' Economista,(ser.1, v.9) [repr. 1889 EC, v.1.2, p.49]
  • "Michele Chevalier, sua vita e sua opere",   1864, Biblioteca dell' Economista,(ser.1, v.10) [repr. 1889 EC, v.1.2, p.197]
  • "Ricardo, suoi 'principii", 1856, Biblioteca dell' Economista,(ser.1, v.11) [repr. 1889 EC, v.1.2, p.321]
  • "F. Bastiat, le armonie economichie, teorie del valore",  1851, Biblioteca dell' Economista,(ser.1, v.12) [repr. 1889 EC, v.1.2, p.445]
  • "I Principii di economia politica di John Stuart Mill", 1851  (v.x) [repr. 1889 EC, v.1.2, p.569]
  • "Giuseppi Garnier" [repr. 1889 EC, v.1.2, p.633]
  • "McCulloch e Carey: Teoria del valore, della ricchezza e della distribuzione della ricchezza di Carey",  1853, Biblioteca dell' Economista,(ser.1, v.13) [repr. 1889 EC, v.1.2, p.639]
  • Esame Storico-critico di Economisti e Dottrine Economiche, 1889-92.
  • Esame storico critico di economisti e dottrine economiche, del secolo xviii e prima metà del xix. 1889-91 
    • v.1.1 (1889) - Prefaces to first series of Biblioteca, vols.1 through 7 [v.1.1]
    • v.1.2  (1889) - Prefaces to first series of Biblioteca, vols.8 through 13 [v.1.2]
    • v.2.1 (1890) - Prefaces to second series of Biblioteca, vols.1-6,  [v..2.1]
    • v.2.2 (1891) - Prefaces to second series of Biblioteca, vols.7-8, plus other writings[v.2.2]
  • Lezione di economia politica,
  • Opere Complete, 1955.
HET

 
top1.gif (924 bytes)Top

Resources on Francesco Ferrara

 

 
top1.gif (924 bytes)Top
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

All rights reserved, Gonçalo L. Fonseca