Intelligence as a Principle of Public Economy

Carlo Cattaneo

Jan 2003 · Lexington Books

About this ebook

Intelligence as a Principle of Public Economy offers the best expression of the life and thought of the nineteenth-century Italian political economist Carlo Cattaneo. Available here for the first time in English, this volume showcases pensiero come principio d'economia publica, Cattaneo's pioneering vision of economic growth that emphasized the central role of intelligence and will in economic processes, the value of knowledge and innovation, and the importance of liberty. This classic of Italian thought is framed by a long biographical sketch of Cattaneo's life before, during, and after the Italian Risorgimento and an afterword that demonstrates the continuing relevance of Cattaneo's social, political, and economic ideas to today's ongoing debate about the importance of a free society.

About the author

Carlo Cattaneo (1801-1869) was a leading Italian economic theorist and political thinker. A proponent of free trade and a critic of protectionism, Cattaneo was active in the movement for Italian independence, writing historical and philosophical essays in suppport of an Italian federation of democratic republics and against Habsburg rule.