Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Marco Boccaccio
Author-Email:
Author-Workplace-Name: Università di Perugia - Dipartimento di Economia
Author-Name: Valeria De Bonis
Author-Email:
Author-Workplace-Name: Università di Pisa - Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche
Title: Political Sociological Theories in Italiana Tradition of Public Finance
Abstract: The political sociological approach is a characteristic of the Italian tradition in public finance.
Its basic features are the concept of ‘ruling class’ or élite as the appropriate theoretical tool to
understand politics from a scientific viewpoint; the idea of the ruling class as a minority, only
more organized and better motivated than others; the interpretation of political decisions as
conflict-based, since the rulers and the ruled pursue different, incompatible aims. Its postulates
can be traced back to Machiavelli; the influences of historical materialism through authors
such as Loria, of political science through Mosca’s work and, more importantly, of sociology
through Pareto can explain why this framework has accompanied the birth of public finance as
an autonomous science within economics. The attention to the historical development of economic
phenomena induced a refusal of the voluntary-exchange theories, considered utopian, in
particular for postulating the existence of an economic relationship between the State and the
citizens, or, better, the governors and the governed. It would however be a mistake to believe
that the political-sociological approach did not develop an economic analysis of public financial
phenomena. It instead contributed, together with the voluntary-exchange approach, to the
purification of public finance through marginalism and to the development of a general equilibrium
and dynamic approach that characterize the Italian tradition in public finance.
Classification-JEL: H11, B19, B29
Keywords: Political sociological theories; structure and scope of government 
Journal: Il Pensiero Economico Italiano
Pages: 75-97
Volume: 11
Issue: 1
Year: 2003
File-URL: http://www.libraweb.net/articoli.php?chiave=200306301&rivista=63
Handle: RePEc:pei:journl:v:11:y:2003:1:4:p:75-97