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ANTONIO DE VITI DE MARCO, THE PRINCIPLE OF MINIMUM MEANS, AND POLITICAL COMPETITION

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 April 2019

Amedeo Fossati  and
Marcello Montefiori
Amedeo Fossati
Affiliation:
University of Genoa.
Marcello Montefiori
Affiliation:
University of Genoa.
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Abstract

In contrast to the common maxims for good taxation, Antonio De Viti de Marco revolutionized public finance studies by placing collective economic activity within a theoretical framework and trying to explain concrete fiscal phenomena such as tax incidence or public debt. The polar cases of cooperative and monopolistic states and the state factor of production are usually considered characteristics of such a framework. Here, we remark that De Viti’s theory of the cooperative state appears grounded only on the principles of minimum means and of political competition, and on the assumption that individual income is a proxy of individual consumption of general public services. Thus, it appears that the characteristics might be inessential to the real core of his theoretical framework. Moreover, we claim that his theoretical framework was not actually applied in his explanation of concrete fiscal phenomena. Finally, we remark that he seldom employed marginal tools in his Principî.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of the History of Economic Thought , Volume 41 , Issue 2 , June 2019 , pp. 237 - 253
Copyright
Copyright © The History of Economics Society 2019 

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