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In July 2016, STOREP – Associazione Italiana per la Storia dell’Economia Politica – has launched two grants (2,000 EUR each, funded from the budget), called “STOREPgrants”, for innovative small-scale research projects by STOREP members in the history of political economy, the history of economic thought, and the history of economics, or exploring economic issues on an interdisciplinary basis, or, finally, explicitly promoting heterodox approaches to economic theory.
The Selection Committee, composed of three members nominated by the Executive Committee (Maria Cristina Marcuzzo, Harald Hagemann and Andrea Salanti) have scrutinized submitted proposals on the bases of three main criteria: a) relevance, originality and coherence of the proposal with STOREP’s aims as institution promoting and enhancing the interest towards the history of economics and economic thought; b) standing of the proponent (expertise, reputation), and c) feasibility of the project, also with reference to the time schedule for completion.
The winning recipient of a STOREPgrant award of 2,000 EUR is Paolo Silvestri, Università di Torino, with the project: “Theories of Tax Justice: Between Exchange and Gift”. Here below is a brief outline of the research:
“Why should we pay taxes? How should we share burdens and benefits of taxation? The endless debates on the two most common and enduring theories of tax justice – benefit-received principle and ability-to-pay principle – can be regarded as a continuous attempt to find satisfactory and shareable answers to these questions. The main objective of the present research is to re-read the problem of tax justice through the lens of reciprocity and, accordingly, to provide new answers to these old questions. I will show: a) that it is possible and useful to re-read the unresolved tension between the two main theories of tax justice with the categories of reciprocity, namely as a problem of the distinction between exchange and gift, but without necessarily opposing one to the other, or re-proposing the self-interest / altruism dichotomy; b) that it is possible and necessary to understand taxation also as a form of gift; c) how the gift may help us understand and re-articulate the conflicting demands (equality Vs freedom) for tax justice”.
Applying rules explicitly stated in the call for submissions, the Selection Committee also decided to retain the amount available for a second STOREPgrant award for the next annual grants round.
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Nel luglio 2016, STOREP – Associazione Italiana per la Storia dell’Economia Politica – ha istituito due Research grants (dell’ammontare di 2.000 euro, a carico del bilancio dell’Associazione), “STOREPgrants”, per progetti di ricerca innovativi (su scala ridotta) proposti da soci dell’Associazione nell’ambito della storia dell’economia politica, della storia del pensiero economico e della storia della disciplina, o che esplorino problemi dei sistemi economici in prospettiva interdisciplinare, o ancora, che promuovano approcci teorici eterodossi.
La commissione per la selezione delle proposte, composta da tre membri nominati dal Consiglio Direttivo (Maria Cristina Marcuzzo, Harald Hagemann e Andrea Salanti) hanno valutato i progetti sulla base di tre criteri: a) rilevanza, originalità e coerenza della proposta con gli obiettivi della STOREP, che intende promuovere e rafforzare l’interesse nei confronti della storia dell’economia e del pensiero economico; b) profilo del proponente (expertise, reputazione), e c) fattibilità del progetto, anche in riferimento alla durata temporale prevista dello stesso.
Il vincitore dello STOREPgrant di 2.000 euro per l’anno 2016 è Paolo Silvestri, Università di Torino, con il progetto: “Theories of Tax Justice: Between Exchange and Gift”. Qui di seguito un breve abstract della ricerca:
“Why should we pay taxes? How should we share burdens and benefits of taxation? The endless debates on the two most common and enduring theories of tax justice – benefit-received principle and ability-to-pay principle – can be regarded as a continuous attempt to find satisfactory and shareable answers to these questions. The main objective of the present research is to re-read the problem of tax justice through the lens of reciprocity and, accordingly, to provide new answers to these old questions. I will show: a) that it is possible and useful to re-read the unresolved tension between the two main theories of tax justice with the categories of reciprocity, namely as a problem of the distinction between exchange and gift, but without necessarily opposing one to the other, or re-proposing the self-interest / altruism dichotomy; b) that it is possible and necessary to understand taxation also as a form of gift; c) how the gift may help us understand and re-articulate the conflicting demands (equality Vs freedom) for tax justice”.
La Commissione per la selezione dei progetti ha inoltre deciso, conformemente a regole esplicitate nel bando, di assegnare un solo STOREPgrant, e di utilizzare l’ammontare eventualmente disponibile per un secondo grant per i prossimi round annuali.
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Mario Cedrini