Abstract
In the early twentieth century, “generalist” journals—which had their peak of popularity in the previous century—continued to accommodate the contributions of economists, making a specific room for economic debate. However, with the affirmation of the fascist ideology, generalist periodicals progressively ceased to exist or to host economists’ articles. This chapter discusses the interplay between generalism and specialisation and identifies the events which produced the decaying of generalist journalism in the interwar period. After examining the main journals of this category, and the impact of the fascist regime on their vicissitudes, it focuses on the two most representative generalist journals of the time—Nuova Antologia and Echi e Commenti—showing how survival to fascist censorship implied their transformation into compliant means of regime propaganda.
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26 January 2020
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Notes
- 1.
Sidgwick (1903, 51–52).
- 2.
Tribe (2015, 2).
- 3.
“Rivista popolare di politica, lettere e scienze sociali 1925”.
- 4.
As stated by Turi (1999).
- 5.
“Archivio di Studi Corporativi 1930”.
- 6.
Bottai (1930).
- 7.
From an epistemological point of view the normativity of the ideological discourse developed in these journals was founded in relation to application rules which were entirely displayed in relation to one-sided cultural universe while generalist normativity needs to be established on the basis of a process of crossing boundaries among different cultural fields. About a similar approach to generalism as semantics, see Whiting (2007).
- 8.
The journal was directed by Ettore Rosboch between 1930 and 1935 and then by Carlo Costamagna from 1936 to 1943.
- 9.
Then the editorship was taken by Pietro de Francisci (1937–1940) as director of the National Fascist Institute of Culture.
- 10.
Editoriale (1934, 1).
- 11.
Founded in 1886 by A. Ghisleri.
- 12.
“Critica Sociale. Rivista quindicinale del socialismo scientifico 1945”.
- 13.
On this periodical, see Severino (1981).
- 14.
Then the journal was edited by Carlo Bazzi.
- 15.
He wrote: “I am a rough positivist, who firmly believes that the only way to benefit your country is to tell the whole truth”, Colajanni (1901, 6613).
- 16.
Colajanni (1912, 380).
- 17.
“Rivista popolare di politica, lettere e scienze sociali 1923”.
- 18.
“Ibid., 1925”.
- 19.
A comparative research on Italian periodicals clarifies the prominent role played by Nuova Antologia and Echi e commenti in hosting articles of economic argument between 1920 and 1938: 648 in Echi e Commenti written by 9 academic economists and 223 in Nuova Antologia thanks to the contribution of 29 economists, see Augello (2013, vol. I, t. I, liii).
- 20.
Parisi (1996, 501).
- 21.
Parisi (1996, 504).
- 22.
Under the direction of M. Ferraris between 1926–1931 and T. Tittoni from 1931.
- 23.
Augello (1995, xxxi).
- 24.
An exception is made for Echi e Commenti, which until 1928, the year in which Loria ceased to collaborate with the review, continued to be an active organ of reflection on economic facts but which, by including short articles to comment the most urgent issues of the time, affected aggregate analyses in a significant way.
- 25.
On academies, see in this book Patalano and Guidi.
- 26.
See Turi (1999).
- 27.
As Marchesi (1974, 328) points out the institution of the Academy of Italy represented «the most colossal threat that fascism has tended to the incurable vanity of the intellectual class».
- 28.
The error margin of the count is about 2 or 3 articles.
- 29.
Although Luigi Luzzatti was professor of constitutional law, the greatest part of his public activities and scientific life were devoted to the financial and economic policy matters and his intellectual profile was mainly perceived as that of a professional economist. See Ballini and Pecorari (2006).
- 30.
- 31.
- 32.
The list of topics of Table 6 in Appendix does not include the column “Note Economiche” since in each issue it deals with different subjects.
- 33.
On this review, see Di Porto (1995).
- 34.
Loria (1928, 315–329).
- 35.
Loria (1928, 329).
- 36.
1 May 1934 issue 1491; 1 November 1941 issue 1671.
- 37.
16 July 1934 issue 1496; 1 March 1936 issue 1535.
- 38.
On the biographical and intellectual profile of Jannaccone, see Misiani (2004).
- 39.
The comments of Borgatta clash with the antimilitarism of the earlier years of his career. See Tedesco (2016).
- 40.
On the drastic conversion of Borgatta from liberalism to autarky , see Tedesco (2012).
- 41.
Tedesco (2016, 243), quoting Riccardo Faucci, explains the radical change of Borgatta—from the liberalism of Einaudi’s school to fascist autarky —also as a consequence of his involvement as advisor of the Ministry of Finance and other fascist institutions created to rule the corporative economy.
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Dal Degan, F., Simon, F. (2019). “Generalist” Journals between Dissemination of Economics and Regime Propaganda. In: Augello, M., Guidi, M., Bientinesi, F. (eds) An Institutional History of Italian Economics in the Interwar Period — Volume I. Palgrave Studies in the History of Economic Thought. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32980-8_6
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