Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Piero Roggi
Author-Email:
Author-Workplace-Name: Università di Firenze - Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche 
Title: Sismondi e gli storici (Sismondi and historians)
Abstract: The paper examines the evolution of the historiography on J.-C.-L. Simonde de Sismondi since
the 1970s. It reveals the existence of diÄerent ’historiographic styles’ : 1. the analogical or comparative
style, consisting in comparisons between Sismondi’s ideas and those of other great
economists (a style which is typical of ’non-historian historians’) ; 2. the style of ’enrolling
fighters’, who utilise Sismondi’s ideas to fight contemporary scientific and ideological battles ;
3. that of ’dwarfs on the shoulders of giants’, who revitalise some Sismondan conceptions to
provide a background of knowledge that may help understanding unforeseen economic
events, hardly caught by orthodox theory ; 4. that of ’reconcilers’, who employ Sismondi’s
ideas to suggest a mediation between contrasting social interests or opposed schools of
thought, in search of a general theory ; 5 the absolutist style, a minority one in Sismondi’s case,
which undervalues his contribution to the evolution of economics. A place apart is occupied
by Marxist historiography, which sees in Sismondi a crucial precursor of Marx. On the whole,
instrumental uses of Sismondian ideas are largely prevailing. Paradoxically, this very element is
central in explaining Sismondi’s relative fortune in historiography 
Classification-JEL: B00; B12; B14; B31
Keywords: Sismondi; historiography of economic thought; fortune of past economists 
(Sismondi; storiografia del pensiero economico; fortuna degli economisti del passato)
Journal: Il Pensiero Economico Italiano
Pages: 147-163
Volume: 13
Issue: 2
Year: 2005
File-URL: http://www.libraweb.net/articoli.php?chiave=200506302&rivista=63
Handle: RePEc:pei:journl:v:13:y:2005:2:6:p:147-163