The Italian Economists in Parliament from 1860 to 1922: a Quantitative Analysis

In the political background that prevailed in Italy after the unification of the country in 1860, many economists were attracted by the prospect of playing an active role in politics. In particular, thirty academic economists became MPs between 1860 and 1923. Many of them became ministers and three of them were appointed prime ministers. The quantitative analysis attempted in this paper reveals the professional and social characteristics of this group of economists and the importance of their political commitment. Many of them sat in parliament for more than twenty years. In both houses, they often played a technical role, concentrating their efforts in the discussion of the economic issues on the agenda. But they did not refrain from becoming involved with questions of a more direct political nature. The high number of economists who were elected deputies even after the Reform Bills of 1882 and 1911 – which gradually extended the suffrage – implies that they took part in open political contests and built up a network of patronage in their local constituencies. In particular, some indicators – like their presence in the ministries and councils of education and the role they played in the creation of institutions of research – show that they exerted their political influence to facilitate the institutionalization and professionalization of economics. Last, some interesting generational differences are highlighted in this paper. In the period between 1861 and 1922, the relationship between political and scientific/academic reputation was inverted. Whereas the economists of the Risorgimento generation employed their political role as a means to obtain tenure in universities, those of the younger generation trained after 1876, who had received a more specialized education in economics, profited by their reputation as scientists and professors in order to foster their political ambitions.