ABSTRACT
Virtually in the same period, between 1880 and 1900, both marginalism and Marxism were introduced to Italy, by the same group of social scientists. This may seem rather paradoxical, since we are accustomed to considering Marxism and marginalism as conflicting views of economics. But these scholars were dissatisfied with the ‘optimist’ schoof of economics led by Francesco Ferrara (see pp. 118–19), and welcomed new influences from outside Italy. Moreover, imbued with positivism, they aimed to reshape the social sciences along similar lines to the natural sciences. This meant, on the one hand, a stress on social evolution and the impact of ‘history’ in determining the social and economic structure; and, on the other hand, a stress on quantification and ‘rigour’ in economic reasoning. In fact, the two metaphors which from that time onwards began to dominate in the social sciences, the mechanical and the biological, are considered by Italian economists not as opposed, but rather as complementary, their use depending on the kind of problem involved. Thus, we find such authors as Conigliani and Ricca-Salerno switching between ‘marginalist’ and ‘Marxist’ approaches in their work (see pp. 129–32, 134–7).
