L'Economista Anglofilo. Paolo Balsamo e l'utopia liberale in Sicilia (1787-1816)

Paolo Balsamo -economist and professor of University of Palermo from 1787 to 1812- was a traveller and expert in the most advanced and modern British and European agriculture. He wrote articles and essays, both in English and Italian, on agriculture and political economy and was a correspondent of important cultural and political circles of British Whiggism. As a member of the Sicilian Parliament, ideologist of the constitutional party and trusted collaborator of Lord Bentinck, he wrote the Sicilian Constitution of 1812 which reformed the old institution of the Kingdom of Sicily transforming it into a liberal State. This monography explores Balsamo's intellectual and political figure throug…

SUCCESSO E DECLINO DELLA SCUOLA GENOVESIANA IN SICILIA SUL FINIRE DEL XVIII E IL PRINCIPIO DEL XIX SECOLO

In the Sicily of late 18th century, during the harshest contraposition between viceroyal government and parliamentary baronage, the Genovesian school gains a great success on the island among scholars and academicians as well as ruling class. In this particular moment of Sicilian history, the theme of reforms is at the top of the political agenda and the thought of Genovesi and his scholars spurs projects to reform the old institutions of the Kingdom, to modernize agriculture, raise productivity and introduce a fairer taxation. The reputation of the Neapolitan school is so well-known that all the parties are inspired by Its economic and political proposals. Furthermore, the Crown and the ba…

The economist and the secret agent. Strategies to introduce the British model of society into Sicily of 1812.

The paper explores the events which determined the transition of Sicily from the ancien regime towards a modern liberal society. The key figures selected to understand this historical moment are the economist Paolo Balsamo, professor at Regia Università di Palermo, and the Scottish gentleman Gould Francis Leckie, whose profile as landowner and scholar concealed his intelligence activity in Sicily. This essay shows how British policy and Sicilian ruling class conceived a plan to transform the island by importing a model of capitalist society from the United Kingdom and entrusted it to the cultural and political role exercised by Balsamo.

Recensione di Maria Pia Paganelli, Dennis C. Rasmussen and Craig Smith (eds), Adam Smith and Rousseau. Ethics, Politics, Economics, Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press, 2018, pp. 332

Paolo Balsamo, Smithianism and the Birth of Liberalism in Sicily

The article focuses on the transition process of Sicily, between the end of 18th century and the beginning of 19th, from the Ancien Regime to a modern society, underlining the intellectual and political role of the Sicilian economist Paolo Balsamo. The professor of Agriculture and Economics at University of Palermo founded the Sicilian liberalism on Adam Smith’s works and tried to reform the institutions of the island aiming to make them the model of a Smithian nation. The article analyses Balsamo’s work by highlighting the interlacement of culture, social interests and political emergencies, all of which had an effect on how Smithianism was adopted in Sicily.

University of Palermo symposium: multidisciplinary studies on Adam Smith’s thought – epistemology, economics, and law.

Adam Smith Across the World. The spread of his thought and the intellectual filters.