On the Moral Foundations of the Science of "Buon Governo"

The paper proposes a philosophical-political interpretation of Einaudi’s On Abstract and Historical Hypotheses and on Value Judgments in Economic Science. It shows how this essay can also be understood as an attempt by Einaudi to lay down solid theoretical and moral foundations for the theory of public finance. In so far as the knowledge of La Scienza delle Finanze, conceived by Einaudi as the science of good government, is supposed to guide political decision making, and in so far as it may end up by imposing certain behaviours on citizens, such science cannot avoid the problem of its moral justifications.