Della Moneta: The Pure Theory of Money

Rosario Patalano ()
Additional contact information
Rosario Patalano: University of Naples Federico II

Chapter Chapter 4 in Ferdinando Galiani, 2026, pp 167-244 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract The Chap. 4 tackles the work of Galiani’s precocious genius, Della Moneta, with a detailed description of his contribution to monetary theory. In particular, the chapter describes the money as an institution based on trust and the theory of value, in the light of a manuscript version of the treatise. Galiani’s theory of value was certainly the highest point reached in the theoretical elaboration of eighteenth century Italian writers. The analysis of Della moneta’s manuscript has made it possible to define Galiani’s theory of value as a synthesis of subjective elements (utility) and objective elements (scarcity, and thus labour and nature), or more precisely, it presents itself as the result of the development of two traditions, the scholastic (utility-scarsity) and the nascent hedonistic utilitarianism (of which uncle Celestino himself was a forerunner in Italy). The same compromise between different traditions of thought emerges with the theory of interest, in which advanced developments in the calculus of probability are embedded in an approach that still contains ethical concerns. But the ground on which Galiani emerges from his century is certainly the pure theory of money: the Neapolitan abbot rejects vulgar metallism, distinguishing between the logical nature and the historical specification of money and attributing to the latter the character of a social institution, based on confidence and consensus. The metallic form that money takes has only a contingent cause, historically determined by the degree of confidence, and is not a logical necessity.

Date: 2026
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-3-032-02793-1_4

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/9783032027931

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-032-02793-1_4

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Springer Books from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().