Instruments of economic policy under the light

Abstract

This chapter is focused on the detailed description of concrete economic instruments in the areas of production (industrial policies), labor (work flexibility, subsidies, education), taxes (kinds of taxes, ways of collection) social assistance (legitimacy and limits of the Welfare State) and commercial policies (regulations for a gradual opening up of the economy) that Rosmini proposes as practical applications of his recognition paradigm for economic science. Rosmini is indeed a harsh critic of economic policies based on regimes of privilege, monopolies, special subsidies and of a statist conception of the economy. However, and despite the clear definitions that bring Rosmini close to liberal economic thought, his recommendations of public economic policies also point to a clear subsidiary role of the State in all those economic activities that private individuals cannot undertake, a gradual and never sudden opening up of the economy, an impulse to education and the help of the needy by the State, civil society and religious associations.