Abstract
Antonio Genovesi was the first academic in the world to teach economics, an event that took place at the University of Naples in 1754. Being in the tradition of Giambattista Vico, he gave much importance to the “social” aspects of life and opened a path for Emanuele Gianturco, an important Italian legislator of the nineteenth century, who tried to do something that, totally unawares at first, is being accomplished here through the definition of economic rights. Gianturco tried to build a “diritto sociale-privato” (a social-private jurisprudence). From the jurisprudence of private rights, we pass to the jurisprudence of social rights and responsibilities: social rights which, once codified in the laws of the land, become public rights and responsibilities. This effort is being continued in Naples at the Scuola di Economia Civile (Civil Economy School). The issue is that important. Intellectually, it concerns a question left open by Kant, the question of the definition and content of “public” rights. This is an issue that starts with being legal and ends up being eminently economic and political. This is an issue that, once settled, puts a stop to the interminable diatribe between Capitalists and Socialists on how to build a civilized society. Economic rights and economic responsibilities (ERs & ERs) perform many functions. In this chapter we will see how they offer much concreteness both to the practice of jurisprudence and the theory of justice.
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Notes
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In the next chapters we will observe more functions of ERs&RSs. The fundamental function of economic rights and responsibilities in economic policy is to call for four marginal changes in our fiscal, labor, monetary, and industrial policies. Thereafter we will look at the functions that ERs&RSs perform in sociology and political science.
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Addendum
Addendum
We need an Economic Bill of Rights.
Martin Luther King, written in 1968 just before his assassination
We’ll never revitalize our market economy till … every single American is protected by an economic bill of rights.
Jerry Brown, “We the People, Take Back America”
Under a second Bill of Rights a new basis of security and prosperity can be established for all - regardless, of station, rank, or creed.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt, State of the Union Message, Jan. 11, 1944
At the United Nations, the Pope urged the rich to show solidarity with the poor. His social teaching has emphasized that this moral commitment should not be done by dole that creates dependency, but by empowering the poor to become full participants in economic life.
George Weigel, President, Ethics and Public Policy Center.
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Gorga, C. (2023). The Definition of Economic Rights and Their Functions. In: Concordian Economics, Vol. 1. Springer Studies in Alternative Economics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-47320-3_10
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