L'economia come scienza normativa in Federico Caffè (Economics as a normative science in Federico Caffè)

Federico Caffè’s continuous effort in dealing with the ethic dimension of economic issues and his deep sense of the State should not be seen, only or primarily, as an educational project, but rather as the very basis of his scientific trajectory and methodological approach. The main thesis of this contribution is that the overall scientific project of Caffè is fully embedded within a normative approach to the economy, and that the normative frame could help to capture the content of his work. After having clarified the meaning of a normative approach to economics, this contribution re-constructs the analytical trajectories followed by Caffè’s thoughts, highlighting the central role attached by him to judgment values, the importance given to the nexus linking values to policy actions, the centrality attached to economic policy and to the role of the State. Finally particular attention is given in the last part of the analysis to the role played by “political economy” as a discipline and, more in particular, to the way the latter examines the economic facts, the theoretical issues and topics debated in the past. With the belief that this method represents one of the most original element of Caffè’s contribution