On Abstract and Historical Hypotheses and on Value Judgments in Economic Sciences

192 Pages·2016·1.76 MB·English

by  Luigi Einaudi

On Abstract and Historical
Hypotheses and on Value
Judgments in Economic Sciences
Luigi Einaudi (1874–1961) was a leading liberal economist, economic historian
and political figure. This book provides the English-speaking world with a first
critical edition of Einaudi’s – hitherto unpublished – rewriting of one of his most
unique and thoughtful essays.
The relevance of this essay is crucial from several perspectives: history and
methodology of economic thought, role of economics and its relation to other
disciplines and to social values, and role of economists in the public sphere, while
also encompassing the discourse on man and the economist as a “whole man”. The
critical edition of On Abstract and Historical Hypotheses and on Value Judgments
in Economic Sciences includes a comprehensive introduction and afterword. An
extensive reappraisal of this newly discovered essay will help to cast light on
Einaudi’s uniqueness and originality within and beyond the Italian tradition in
public finance, thereby also illuminating his attempt to provide an epistemologi-
cal account of his long-lasting enquiry into the causes of good and bad polities.
This book is of great interest to those who study economic theory and phi-
losophy, as well as history of economic thought, public economics and legal and
political philosophy.
Luigi Einaudi (1874–1961) was a leading liberal economist, journalist, economic
historian, one of the major representatives of the Italian tradition in public finance
and political figure: Governor of the Bank of Italy, Minister for the Budget and
President of the Italian Republic.
Paolo Silvestri is Research Fellow in Economics at the Department of Economics
and Statistics “Cognetti de Martiis”, University of Turin. He is also Habilitated
Associate Professor both in Philosophy of Law and Political Philosophy.
Routledge Studies in the History of Economics
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185 On Abstract and Historical Hypotheses and on Value
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Critical Edition, with an Introduction and Afterword
by Paolo Silvestri
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Edited by Paolo Silvestri
186 The Origins of Neoliberalism
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On Abstract and Historical
Hypotheses and on Value
Judgments in Economic
Sciences
Critical Edition, with an Introduction
and Afterword by Paolo Silvestri
Luigi Einaudi
Edited by Paolo Silvestri
First published 2017
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa
business
© 2017 selection and editorial matter, Paolo Silvestri; individual chapters,
Luigi Einaudi
The right of Paolo Silvestri to be identified as the author of the editorial
material, and of Luigi Einaudi for his individual chapters, has been
asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs
and Patents Act 1988.
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registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Einaudi, Luigi, 1874-1961, author. | Silvestri, Paolo, 1974- editor.
Title: On abstract and historical hypotheses and on value-judgments in
economic sciences / Luigi Einaudi ; edited by Paolo Silvestri.
Description: Critical edition / with introduction and afterword by Paolo
Silvestri | Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2017. |
Includes bibliographical references.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016017555 | ISBN 9780415517904 (hardback) |
ISBN 9781315637372 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Economics. | Economics—History
Classification: LCC HB71 .E34 2017 | DDC 330.01—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016017555
ISBN: 978-0-415-51790-4 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-45793-2 (ebk)
Typeset in Times New Roman
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
Contents
Editorial foreword ix
Preface xxiv
Acknowledgements xxxiii
Abbreviations xxxv
Introduction: The defense of economic science and the
issue of value judgments 1
Luigi Einaudi: On abstract and historical hypotheses
and on value judgments in economic sciences 35
I Abstract hypotheses and historical hypotheses 37
II On some abstract hypotheses concerning the state and on
their historical value 49
III On value judgments in economic sciences 66
Bibliographical note 92
Afterword: Freedom and taxation between good and bad
polity and the economist-whole-man 94
Bibliography 137
Index 153

Detailed contents
Editorial foreword ix
1 Towards the second edition: On Einaudi’s intention
and the chronology of the rewriting x
2 Conjectures on the reasons for the failure to publish
the second version xiv
3  The abstract and the summary of the first edition: The 
itinerary of Einaudi’s arguments xv
4 The major structural changes xviii
5 Notes on the rewriting process: The debate with his
correspondents xix
6 Editorial decisions xxi
Preface xxiv
1 Relevance and uniqueness of Einaudi’s essay xxiv
2 Structure of this critical edition xxix
Acknowledgements xxxiii
Abbreviations xxxv
Introduction: The defense of economic science and the issue
of value judgments 1
1 The economist in the public sphere: Between governors,
governed and lay public 1
1.1 The most remote antecedent of the present essay 3
2 The methodological position of the 1930s: In defense
of economic science 5
2.1 The re-reading of Robbins: Instrumental reasoning
and significance of economic science 7
3 The debate with Fasiani (1938–1943): From Myths and
paradoxes of justice in taxation to the present essay 10
3.1 An overview: The demarcation issue 10
3.2 Counsels and theorems: Normative and theoretical
language and their reciprocal translatability 14
viii Detailed contents
3.3 Science and history and the (alleged) detachment of the
scholar 18
3.4 Abstract versus historical schemata of state 21
4 The turning point of the 1940s: The issue of value
judgments 22
4.1 Historicity of economics and the “passionate
economist” 22
4.2 The nearest antecedent of the present essay 24
4.3 The debate with Croce: Liberism and liberalism,
economics and philosophy 26
Luigi Einaudi: On abstract and historical hypotheses
and on value judgments in economic sciences 35
I Abstract hypotheses and historical hypotheses 37
II O n some abstract hypotheses concerning the state
and on their historical value 49
III O n value judgments in economic sciences 66
Bibliographical note 92
Afterword: Freedom and taxation between good and bad
polity and the economist-whole-man 94
1 The schemata of the state and the search for a liberal good
polity 94
1.1  Engaging with the Italian tradition in public finance: 
Within and beyond the economic approach 98
1.2 Hypotheses and schema: Theory, interpretation
and communication of historical reality 105
1.3 The anthropological background: The individual
and the collective 111
2 Excursus 116
3 Value judgments, economics, philosophy 117
3.1 The issue of value judgments 119
3.2 Economics, philosophy and the whole man 123
Bibliography 137
Index 153
Editorial foreword
The first edition of Ipotesi astratte ed ipotesi storiche e dei giudizi di valore nelle
scienze economiche (On Abstract and Historical Hypotheses and on Value Judg-
ments in Economic Sciences) was originally presented as a note to the “Royal
Academy of Sciences of Turin”, in the meeting held on 17 February 1943 and
published in the same year (E. 1942–1943) (henceforth the “first edition”).
The previously unpublished text presented here is what had been planned – at
least in Einaudi’s original intentions – as the second and profoundly modified
edition of the same text. Depending on the context and/or when it is not neces-
sary to distinguish between the two versions, the title On Abstract and Historical
Hypotheses and on Value Judgments in Economic Sciences will be abbreviated as
“the present essay”.
I discovered the existence of this second unpublished version in the Archive
of the Fondazione Luigi Einaudi of Turin as I was trying to clarify to myself the
meaning that should be ascribed to the first edition of the essay (the interpretation
of which I have always considered somewhat difficult) and, more generally, to the
overall problem of the tormented and wavering nature of Einaudi’s methodologi-
cal reflection in the previous years.
When I encountered this text, I immediately realized I had come upon a work
of exceedingly great importance. I strongly hope that the present critical edition
will succeed in bringing to light a number of details that will help to clarify the
reasons underlying this assessment.
The aim of this Editorial Foreword, however, is to provide the reader with some
information of an archival, philological and editorial nature concerning this sec-
ond version (those who wish to skip this foreword can proceed directly to the
Preface). In particular, I intend to: 1) reconstruct briefly the chronology of the
rewriting process of the first edition and give evidence on Einaudi’s intention to
republish it in a second expanded and modified edition, 2) make a few conjectures
on the reasons why it never reached the stage of publication, 3) show the Abstract
and Summary of the first edition in order to provide the reader with a means of
orientation that will assist him or her in following the main path in the develop-
ment of Einaudi’s arguments, 4) highlight the major structural changes to the first
edition, 5) provide the reader with introductory notes on the rewriting process and
the debate between Einaudi and his interlocutors that led to the present essay, and