The "industrial mentality" of Angelo Marescotti

This paper provides a critical analysis of the thought of a representative economist of the Italian Classical School in the second half of the nineteenth century: Angelo Marescotti (1815-1892). After setting out the philosophical and methodological foundations of his economic theory, it explores the apparent contradiction between his free trade, laissez-faire position, and the wish he often expressed to see Italian firms increase in scale. The situation of Italian industry in the second half of the nineteenth century is first examined, followed by a summary of the economic theories about market structures that had been worked out up until that time. Finally, it describes the vision of competition as a dynamic process, and the relation between support for free trade and innovations, developed by the Italian Classical School. The industrialisation strategy that emerges from this is based exclusively on market mechanisms, and is therefore an original if minority position in the panorama of economic theories on industrialisation in Italy in the second half of the nineteenth century.