Political Sociological Theories in Italiana Tradition of Public Finance

The political sociological approach is a characteristic of the Italian tradition in public finance. Its basic features are the concept of ‘ruling class’ or élite as the appropriate theoretical tool to understand politics from a scientific viewpoint; the idea of the ruling class as a minority, only more organized and better motivated than others; the interpretation of political decisions as conflict-based, since the rulers and the ruled pursue different, incompatible aims. Its postulates can be traced back to Machiavelli; the influences of historical materialism through authors such as Loria, of political science through Mosca’s work and, more importantly, of sociology through Pareto can explain why this framework has accompanied the birth of public finance as an autonomous science within economics. The attention to the historical development of economic phenomena induced a refusal of the voluntary-exchange theories, considered utopian, in particular for postulating the existence of an economic relationship between the State and the citizens, or, better, the governors and the governed. It would however be a mistake to believe that the political-sociological approach did not develop an economic analysis of public financial phenomena. It instead contributed, together with the voluntary-exchange approach, to the purification of public finance through marginalism and to the development of a general equilibrium and dynamic approach that characterize the Italian tradition in public finance.