Prato, Giuseppe (1873-1928)

Encyclopaedia of the social sciences, editor in chief Edwin R.A. Seligman,New York, The Macmillan Company, vol. XII, 1934, pp. 311-312

PRATO, GIUSEPPE (1873-1928), Italian economist and historian. Prato belonged to the group of scholars trained in the rigid scientific atmosphere cultivated in the 1890’s by Cognetti de Martiis in the institute of economics of Turin University. After some excursions in the problem of Italian emigration, which was much debated in Italy at the time, Prato turned to the study of economic history and soon gained a reputation as one of the foremost Italian economic historians. His numerous studies on the economic development of Piedmont, which constituted his chief interest, are masterpieces of scientific research. He did not subscribe to the materialistic interpretation of history, nor did he aim to reconstruct economics through history; he was simply an economist who studied economic history and achieved lasting results. Marcel Marion, in prefacing volume in honor of Prato, ranked him with Fustel de Coulanges, Levasseur and Lavisse; only the limited knowledge abroad of the language in which he wrote set bounds to the fame to which he was entitled.

Prato was keenly interested in current economic problems; he wrote with prophetic insight on the need for the protection of labor, before the exclusion of foreign labor became common all over the world; he subjected to a critical analysis the problem of collective bargaining and its economic implications; and by his attack on «municipal mercantilism» he was instrumental in the ultimate abolition of the petty customs barriers which until recently surrounded so many Italian cities.