Fiscal Politics and Fiscal Sociology: Murray, Griziotti and Sensini

Abstract

This chapter briefly considers Pareto’s indirect influence on the development of the political approach to fiscal studies, initially through the work of Murray, and subsequently through the fiscal sociology of Sensini. The early stages of Italian tradition in fiscal studies are briefly overviewed to provide the context in which Paretian thought in this field emerged, and Roberto Murray’s pre-Trattato contribution to fiscal politics is noted as the first, tentative, attempt to extend Paretian ideas beyond the economics of public finance. Most importantly, consideration is given to Pareto’s 1917 letters to his ex-student Benvenuto Griziotti, on the ‘science’ of public finance generally and Griziotti’s analysis of Ricardian equivalences specifically, and his letters of 1905, 1917 and 1920 to Guido Sensini, on the importance of non-logic in fiscal decisions and encouraging Sensini to develop his fiscal studies.