La povertà nel pensiero di Antonio Genovesi

Poverty in the Thought of Antonio Genovesi · The topic of poverty is pivotal in Antonio Genovesi’s thought and works. The analysis of the state of the productive branches of the Kingdom of Naples, his demographic studies and the attention to strategies adopted by the wealthiest countries are aimed at demning a development model that can generate greater well-being for citizens in the long term. Agriculture, whose development is hindered by the survival of feudal institutions and the excessive power of the clergy, plays a fundamental role: the increase in production is necessary to guarantee the livelihood of the population and to increase foreign trade, as a source of income for both individuals and the State. Genovesi thus supports the need for greater investment in agriculture, to be achieved thanks to the commitment of ‘gentlemen’ and the aristocracy, which possesses greater capital to invest and knowledge to innovate. Production must be managed from an entrepreneurial and market-oriented perspective, as well as subsistence-oriented. To this end, it is essential to carry out a reform of tariks that makes it easier to export goods and allows Neapolitan producers to be competitive. The wealth generated in the primary sector, also by virtue of the reform of taxation, which is based precisely on the census of agricultural funds, is necessary for the mnancing of manufactures and industries, whose promotion is also at the centre of the governmental activity of Carlo III di Borbone and Ferdinando IV. Genovesi’s vision, of undoubted modernity, deems fundamental the reorganization of education, which makes access to the professions possible for the large population of the capital and the inhabitants of the provinces. Within the economic system, the training of young people is fundamental and oriented towards the practice of virtues and the exercise of work. In this sense, individual ekort is essential to improve their own living conditions: those who voluntarily choose not to devote themselves to production activities cause damage to the whole community and their behaviour is to be condemned as harmful examples for society. Finally, within the economic system, the role of the sovereign is fundamental: through the implementation of reforms aimed at raising the general condition of the Kingdom, he assumes the role of ‘protector’ of the people, generating widespread ‘public faith’, social capital necessary to guarantee the certainty of transactions and bargaining. The works of Genovesi, together with those of distinguished representatives of the Neapolitan Enlightenment, represent in this sense the core of the debate on the development of Southern Italy, whose weak points are sharply highlighted in the writings of the economist, who proposes a development strategy to be implemented through the government’s fruitful reformist activity.