Antonio Serra was a late 16th-century

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

philosopher and economist in the mercantilist tradition.

Biography

Little is known about Serra's life. He was born in Cosenza in the late 16th century (the dates of his birth and death are unknown

Alessandro Roncaglia Alessandro Roncaglia (1947) is an Italian economist. He was professor of economics at the Sapienza University of Rome The Sapienza University of Rome ( it, Sapienza – Università di Roma), also called simply Sapienza or the University of Rom ...

, ''The wealth of ideas: a history of economic thought'', Cambridge University Press, 2005, p. 48.). When working in

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

, he applied himself to solving the enormous social and economic problems created by the Spanish viceroy system. In 1613 Serra was jailed for unknown reasons but possibly due to his involvement in a conspiracy with the philosopher

Tommaso Campanella Tommaso Campanella (; 5 September 1568 – 21 May 1639), baptized Giovanni Domenico Campanella, was an Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, theologian, astrologer, and poet. He was prosecuted by the Roman Inquisition for heresy in 1594 an ...

attempting to free Calabria from the Spanish domination. In his treatise, ''Breve trattato delle cause che possono far abbondare li regni d’oro e d’argento dove non sono miniere'', Serra analysed the causes of the shortage of coin in the Kingdom of Naples and the factors that could have reversed this

economic trend *all the economic indicators that are the subject of economic forecasting **see also: econometrics *general trends in the economy, see: economic history Economic history is the academic learning of economies or economic events of the past. R ...

. He was the first to analyse and fully understand the concept of balance of trade for both visible goods and invisible services and capital movements. He explained how the shortage of coin in the Kingdom of Naples was due to balance of payments deficit. Using his findings he was able to reject the popular idea at the time that the scarcity in money was due to the exchange rate. The solution to the problem was found in the active encouragement of exports.

English translations

* Serra, Antonio (1613), ''A Short Treatise on the Wealth and Poverty of Nations'' edited by Sophus A. Reinert (2011), Anthem Press

References

Sources

Short biography

Antonio Serra: A Neglected Herald of the Acquisitive System

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Serra, Antonio 16th-century births 17th-century deaths 17th-century Italian philosophers People from Cosenza Italian economists Mercantilists