Relatore:
Guido Montani
- Università di Pavia
lunedì 21 febbraio 2011
alle ore
12.30
Biblioteca DSE, Palazzina 32 ex caserma Passalacqua
The paper examines some international aspects of Ricardo’s economic theory. The theory of comparative costs is considered a special case of a more general theory of economic integration, showing that the final stage of economic integration, when capital and workers freely circulate in the global market, is a world economic union. Ricardo worked out also a theory of the international gold standard. He came to the conclusion that, when banknotes circulate alongside gold, the central bank should be entrusted to a public agency, independent of national power and with a precise target for the issue of banknotes. These “cosmopolitan” positions suggest that in the present international economy, a world governance capable of guaranteeing monetary stability and free trade should be entrusted to supranational institutions, similar to those existing in the European Union.