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VILFREDO PARETO: AN INTELLECTUAL BIOGRAPHY VOLUME I FROM SCIENCE TO LIBERTY (1848–1891) Fiorenzo Mornati PALGRAVE STUDIES IN THE HISTORY OF ECONOMIC THOUGHT Palgrave Studies in the History of Economic Thought Series Editors Avi Cohen Department of Economics York University Toronto, ON, Canada Geoffrey Colin Harcourt The University of New South Wales Sydney, NSW, Australia Peter Kriesler School of Economics The University of New South Wales Sydney, NSW, Australia Jan Toporowski Department of Economics SOAS University of London London, UK Palgrave Studies in the History of Economic Thought publishes contributions by leading scholars, illuminating key events, theories and individuals that have had a lasting impact on the development of modern-day economics. The topics covered include the development of economies, institutions and theories. More information about this series at http://www.palgrave.com/gp/series/14585 Fiorenzo Mornati Vilfredo Pareto: An Intellectual Biography Volume I From Science to Liberty (1848–1891) Translated by Paul Wilson Fiorenzo Mornati Dipto di Econ e Statistica University of Turin Torino, Italy Translated by Paul Wilson Milan, Italy Palgrave Studies in the History of Economic Thought ISBN 978-3-319-92548-6 ISBN 978-3-319-92549-3 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-92549-3 Library of Congress Control Number: 2018943448 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2018 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Cover credit: INTERFOTO / Alamy Stock Photo Printed on acid-free paper This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland Acknowledgements I would like to express my gratitude for the ongoing support and friend- ship provided by the following (in alphabetical order): Pascal Bridel, Giovanni Busino, Roberto Marchionatti, Alberto Zanni. I would also like to express my appreciation for the valuable and patient archive assistance received from the following individuals: Banca Popolare di Sondrio, pro- prietors of the Vilfredo Pareto archive held at the Luigi Credaro library in Sondrio; Piercarlo Della Ferrera, director of the archive; the Ansaldo Foundation in Genoa, owner of the minutes of the Società delle Ferriere Italiane; Simone Fagioli, director of the Turri collection in Pistoia; Stefania Andreini, archivist of the municipality of San Giovanni Valdarno; Massimo Baucia, head of the historical archive at the Passerini-Landi library in Piacenza; Paola Novaria, head of the historical archive at the University of Turin; Margherita Bongiovanni, head of the historical archive at the Polytechnic of Turin; Paul Wilson, translator of the original text. v Contents 1 Introduction 1 2 An Outline of the Life of Raffaele Pareto 15 3 Vilfredo’s School and University Education 31 4 Twenty Years in Industry Management 51 5 A Multifaceted Liberalism and a Positive Methodology 127 6 Political Activism 161 7 Amateur Publications 187 Epilogue 241 Index 245 vii List of Tables Table 4.1 Annual results for the Società per l’Industria del Ferro 54 Table 4.2 Estimated average annual employment for the Società per l’Industria del Ferro 63 Table 4.3 Net final balance sheet figures for the Società delle Ferriere Italiane 65 Table 4.4 Estimated average annual employment at the Società delle Ferriere Italiane 66 Table 4.5 Variation of San Giovanni’s percentage share of the total production of the developing Italian iron industry 67 Table 4.6 Yields from speculation in warrants 69 Table 4.7 Italian imports of pig iron 101 Table 4.8 Italian imports of scrap 102 Table 4.9 Italian imports of finished iron products (in hundredweight) 102 Table 6.1 Overall results of the general election of 29 October 1882 in the constituency of Prato, Pistoia, San Marcello Pistoiese 169 Table 6.2 Results obtained by Pareto in the general election of 29 October 1882 in the constituency of Prato, Pistoia, San Marcello Pistoiese 170 ix 1 Introduction Nowadays, for economists, as well as for the majority of historians of economic thought, the name Vilfredo Pareto evokes only the notion of the Paretian optimum and, conceivably, his law on the distribution of income. Such a condensation, while not completely off the mark, is decidedly uncharitable with regard to one of the last scholars who attempted, in the typically nineteenth-century manner, to examine social phenomena from differing economic, sociological and political stand- points. As Pareto did not spend all his life as an academic, we subscribe to the view that to gain an understanding of his complex scientific output requires not only a patient and detailed exegesis of this output itself but also its meticulous contextualisation within the framework of the sub- ject’s intellectual biography. The 75 years of his life stretching from the second half of the nine- teenth century to the 1920s were a period marked by social, economic and political changes, not only on a European scale but worldwide, and this, together with the voluminous writings which fill the 32 volumes of his complete works, in themselves justify the publication of a very exten- sive intellectual biography. The additional fact that his life and works continue to be very little known, and not only among an Anglo-Saxon readership, also warrants a detailed treatment. © The Author(s) 2018 1 F. Mornati, Vilfredo Pareto: An Intellectual Biography Volume I, Palgrave Studies in the History of Economic Thought, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-92549-3_1 2 F. Mornati The organisation of the results of this wide-ranging research into three volumes is in turn justified by the fact the Pareto’s intellectual life story can be meaningfully thus divided. It also offers the advantage of not imposing on our kind readership an excessive effort of concentration, especially for those readers who are less familiar with an inductive approach, where greater emphasis is placed on detail of analysis than on interpretation. The first volume deals with a part of Pareto’s intellectual biography which is unknown to the wider public and is familiar even to the small group of specialists only on the basis of a limited number of episodes. This relates to the period of over 40 years which Pareto, having completed his academic groundwork, spent at the helm of an ironworks in Tuscany which constituted one of the first major Italian industrial concerns. From the intellectual point of view this was a phase during which Pareto gradu- ally relinquished his youthful enthusiasm for science as a panacea for all social ills, to be replaced by a liberal ideology in the widest sense, that is, covering the political, economic and broadly philosophical arenas. This volume opens with a section devoted to Raffaele, Pareto’s father. A younger son of a Genoese family of nobles, he was, as was common in aristocratic Italian families of the time, destined for a military career. This prospect, however, came to a sudden end following his involvement in a revolt by the army of the Kingdom of Sardinia. Raffaele went into exile in France where he remained for over 20 years (from 1833 to 1854), marry- ing a Frenchwoman (who bore him two daughters as well as Vilfredo) and putting to use the mathematical and engineering skills he had acquired at the Academy of the Corps of Engineers in Turin. Back in Italy, after a brief period engaged in teaching and in technical journalism, he embarked on a long career in the civil service as a hydraulic engineer, dying in 1882 after taking personal charge of Vilfredo’s early education and orienting him decisively towards mathematical and engineering studies. The volume continues with a painstaking and groundbreaking exami- nation of Vilfredo’s school and university education, starting from a detailed reconstruction of the curriculum he followed at Technical College in Casale Monferrato and in Turin, and later at the faculty of mathematics and at the School of Specialisation for Engineers in Turin. Thereafter, making reference once again to unpublished documentation,

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