Economics and "Civilization" in Gian Domenico Romagnosi

Abstract Gian Domenico Romagnosi (1761–1835) contends that the classical political economists took the wrong road: they believed that economics should only study the indefinite production and reproduction of wealth and that their task was limited to the study “of purely economic events isolated from practical theory”. Then the narrow-minded self-interest of a speculator wishing to become enriched was considered and calculated in its various movements for the production, distribution and consumption of wealth, without considering actual social relations at a higher level. Whilst Romagnosi possibly misunderstood the very essence of classical doctrine, by not separating it from moral philosophy, the reasons behind his intendedly polemic attitude towards it are rather clear: on the one hand, the attempt to investigate the laws governing the production and distribution of wealth; on the other hand, the deliberate intention to be guided by the “views of the family man, longing to see all his children employed” and to contribute to this end.