Intelligence as a Principle of Public Economy
offers the best expression of the life and thought of the nineteenth-century Italian political economist Carlo Cattaneo. Available here for the first time in English, this volume showcases
pensiero come principio d'economia publica
, Cattaneo's pioneering vision of economic growth that emphasized the central role of intelligence and will in economic processes, the value of knowledge and innovation, and the importance of liberty. This classic of Italian thought is framed by a long biographical sketch of Cattaneo's life before, during, and after the Italian
Risorgimento
and an afterword that demonstrates the continuing relevance of Cattaneo's social, political, and economic ideas to today's ongoing debate about the importance of a free society.