Editorial: Paolo Sylos Labini (1920-2005)

The article introduces to the new issue of the Review, which roughly corresponds with the tenth anniversary of the passing away of Paolo Sylos Labini (PSL). As explained by Roncaglia (2008), the very name of the PSL Quarterly Review is dedicated to the Italian economist, due among other things to the long run relation between PSL and the old series of this journal. The paper discusses PSL’s contributions in the Banca Nazionale del Lavoro Quarterly Review, focusing on his forecast of the recent global crisis, published in 2003. This contribution already contained precise reference – often backed by data for the USA and other economies – to trends and ‘explanations’ of the crisis that several mainstream economists (e.g. Robert Lucas) claimed were impossible to see before the crisis itself. These include the accumulation of excessive household debt, excessive complacency on the side of the Fed, speculative bubbles in the US stock exchange and real estate markets, and the deflationary pressures caused by radical technological innovations. PSL’s example shows that the economists can and often do provide useful services to society, provided they build on solid theories

Popolazione e classi sociali a Turris Libisonis: i legami con Ostia

L'autore analizza le fonti storiche della colonia di Turris Libisonis (oggi Porto Torres), per darne un quadro della popolazione e delle classi sociali che abitarono la città romana

Paolo Sylos Labini: Reflections of a Classical Economist

The article provides a review of Sylos Labini’s memories, collected here on occasion of the tenth anniversary of his passing away. The author reports on the proceedings of two conferences in memory of Sylos Labini held in Rome, on 18 November 2015 at the Lincean Academy and on 4 December 2015 at Sapienza University. Sylos Labini stipulated that the goal of economic development is not just to satisfy human needs, but to cater civil development itself, in accordance with Adam Smith’s fundamental lesson. In his view, economic development and civil development interact in a circular manner in the long run. Considering the developmental issues of Italy’s Mezzogiorno, Sylos Labini highlights that the nature of the problem is not only economic, but rather many issues arise from unreasonable links between politics, economy, and society. Accordingly, he provided policy suggestions that are not limited to the economic and industrial fields (such as water supply projects, irrigation infrastructures, and investments for the creation of modern industries), but he also identified three priority areas of social policy: measures to contrast the mafias, crime in public procurement, and corruption; a reform of the public administration; and investments in education, universities, and research

Teorie dello Stato e della democrazia

L'articolo presenta una ricostruzione delle principali teorie dello Stato di area marxista: da Ralph Miliband, a Louis Althusser, a Nicos Poulantzas, fino agli approcci di William Domhoff, di Claus Offe e di Juergen Habermas, per finire con la teoria neomarxista di Jacques Bidet

Un modello per lo studio delle classi sociali in Piemonte

Working Paper ; n.106- Indice #3- Presentazione #5- Introduzione #7- Stratificazione e classi sociali #9- Teorie delle classi #15- Il paradigma della complessità: la critica alle teorie delle classi #27- Immagini della struttura di classe #45- Un modello per lo studio delle classi #51- Alcune proposte per un programma sulla struttura di classe in Piemonte #59- Riferimenti bibliografici #6

Productive interdependencies, interests and systemic conditions: Elements for a political economy of industrial structures

This article outlines a route to reconnect political economy to the original themes of the discipline, and specifically the complex relations between the objectives of (individual and collective) actors in a polity on the one hand, and the material and social interdependencies that influence the pursuit of those objectives on the other hand. The article highlights the heuristic value of economic theories of interdependencies for i) identifying the internal structure of constraints within a political-economic system; and ii) reconstructing the partial interests of specific sectors or social groups and their weight in determining collective actions. In this light, the article analyses the relations between partial interests and systemic interest. Unlike the usual understanding of collective interest, the systemic interest associated with a set of interdependencies expresses the multiple ways in which the partial and sometimes diverging interests of individuals or groups may be compatible with the viability of the system as a whole. This approach is illustrated in the context of the material and social interdependencies that characterise the political economy of the Eurozone. In this connection, the essay shows that a focus on «intermediate aggregates» (as opposed to the usual macro and micro levels of analysis) may be necessary for identifying effective measures of economic and industrial policy

Le \u2018origini\u2019 del comuni rurali nelle Marche: un tema storiografico nella medievistica del primo Novecento

This essay investigates a notable period of historiography on medieval Italy, in the early 20th Century, in relation to a peripheral area: the \u2018Marche\u2019. At that time the interest was focused on the origin of \u2018comune rurale\u2019 and in Tuscany this topic was investigated by leading scholars, such as Gioacchino Volpe and Romolo Caggese. Also in the Marche a broad discussion expanded on this issue, launched by scholars who had carried out thorough research in archives of the smaller towns, mainly Gino Luzzatto, Francesco Filippini, Andrea Menchetti. Through essays, reviews and replies, the issue of \u2018origins\u2019 and social composition of \u2018comune rurale\u2019 was further discussed and analysed from different points of view. It was a comparison far from a provincial one, because it was based on the achievements of recent studies, wisely combined with the territorial area investigated

Donne di classe o classe di donne?

Il femminismo può creare un ponte tra donne di classi sociali diverse? L’Italia, rispetto ad altri paesi europei, mostra una situazione polarizzata: sono di più, rispetto agli uomini, sia le donne single che ricevono esclusivamente redditi da capitale, sia le single che sopravvivono grazie a trasferimenti familiari o statali. Ma interessi di classe e genere in alcuni casi possono corrispondere