On Einaudi's Liberal Heritage: A Short Reply

Abstract

In his accurate review of my book, Paolo Silvestri raises some points which deserve to be discussed in wider detail. As correctly stated by Silvestri, two questions appear to be crucial in the understanding of Luigi Einaudi's political and economic thought: the anthropological foundation of liberalism and, consequently, his vision of individual liberty. In this short reply I will try to develop some reflection on both these topics. As to the first, Silvestri recalls Adam Smith's 'prudent man' as Einau di's main anthropological model. Smith, I argue in my book,1 was cer tainly one of the main sources of inspiration for Einaudi, but I wonder whether this 'prudent man' might satisfy at all his requests. In my view, there is something that goes beyond the bonus paterfamilias outline and even the same image of the 'self-made man', that can be partially included in the former: Einaudi very often stressed the importance of another model, the independent entrepreneur who, at his own risk and following the intuition of his genius, opens new roads for himself and for mankind. We cannot explain, Einaudi writes many times, the legit imacy of profits and the very idea of progress though moral, political or merely economic without relying on this peculiar character. If we turn to some of Einaudi's most important essays, from his first book Un Principe mercante (A Merchant Prince)2 to the last Prediche inutili (Useless Preachings)3 we are forced to admit that the courageous en trepreneur is often portrayed as the modern-times hero. He is not only the man who struggles to better himself and his family: he is somehow a gambler, in the sense that he undergoes heavy risks in order to reach his own goals. Einaudi seems to accept both these models 'prudent man' and 'courageous entrepreneur' and to consider them equally fundamen tal for the establishment of a liberal society: no surprise in this, since they match precisely with his two main visions of life. Market econo my and liberal democracy must be grounded on a moral and juridical