Epicarmo Corbino (1890–1984) was an Italian academic and economist who served briefly as the minister of industry and the minister of treasury in the 1940s. He was among the most influential Italian economists.

Biography

Corbino was born in

Augusta, Sicily Augusta (, archaically ''Agosta''; ; Ancient Greek, Greek and , Medieval: ''Augusta'') is a town and in the province of Syracuse, Italy, Syracuse, located on the eastern coast of Sicily (southern Italy). The city is one of the main harbours in ...

, in 1890. He was the brother of

Orso Mario Corbino Orso Mario Corbino (30 April 1876 – 23 January 1937) was an Italian physicist and politician. He is noted for his studies of the influence of external magnetic fields on the motion of electrons in metals and he discovered the Corbino effect. ...

, a politician served in the cabinets of Mussolini. Epicarmo Corbino was promoted to professorship at the

University of Naples The University of Naples Federico II (; , ) is a public university, public research university in Naples, Campania, Italy. Established in 1224 and named after its founder, Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick II, it is the oldest public, s ...

in 1923. He was the minister of industry and commerce in the government of Salerno between 11 February and 17 April 1944. He served as minister of the treasury in the

first First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

and second cabinets of

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Alcide De Gasperi Alcide Amedeo Francesco De Gasperi (; 3 April 1881 – 19 August 1954) was an Italian politician and statesman who founded the Christian Democracy party and served as prime minister of Italy in eight successive coalition governments from 1945 t ...

from December 1945 to September 1946 when he resigned from the office. Corbino was member of the National Council and then, of the

Constituent Assembly A constituent assembly (also known as a constitutional convention, constitutional congress, or constitutional assembly) is a body assembled for the purpose of drafting or revising a constitution. Members of a constituent assembly may be elected b ...

until 1953 for the

Liberal party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

. Carbino left the Liberal Party before the

general elections A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. General elections ...

in 1953 and co-founded and headed the

National Democratic Alliance The National Democratic Alliance (NDA; ISO 15919, ISO: ''Rāṣṭrīya Lokatāntrik Gaṭhabandhan'') is an Indian big tent Political group, multi-party political alliance, led by the country's biggest political party, the Bharatiya Janata Pa ...

in the elections. He collaborated with former Prime Minister

Ferruccio Parri Ferruccio Parri (; 19 January 1890 – 8 December 1981) was an Italian partisan and anti-fascist politician who served as the 29th Prime Minister of Italy, and the first to be appointed after the end of World War II. During the war, he was also ...

in the establishment of the party. However, the party did not manage to win a seat at the parliament. Between 1959 and 1965 Corbino was the president of the

Banco di Napoli Banco di Napoli S.p.A., among the oldest banks in the world, was an Italian banking subsidiary of Intesa Sanpaolo group, as one of the 6 retail brands other than "Intesa Sanpaolo". It was acquired by the Italian banking group Sanpaolo IMI (the ...

. He died in

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

in 1984.

Views and work

As an economist Corbino belonged to the classical school of economics in addition to

Marcello Soleri Marcello Soleri (28 April 1882 – 22 July 1945) was an Italian politician and an officer of the prestigious Alpini infantry corps. He is widely viewed as one of the leading exponents of political liberalism in 20th-century Italy. Soleri was a ...

Pietro Campilli Pietro Campilli (1891–1974) was an Italian economist and politician who held several cabinet posts during the 1940s and 1950s. He was the first president of the European Investment Bank and served in the post between 1958 and 1959. Early life ...

Luigi Einaudi Luigi Numa Lorenzo Einaudi (; 24 March 1874 – 30 October 1961) was an Italian politician, economist and banker who served as President of Italy from 1948 to 1955 and is considered one of the founding fathers of the 1946 Italian institutional ...

and

Gustavo Del Vecchio Gustavo is the Latinate form of a Germanic male given name with respective prevalence in Portuguese, Spanish, and Italian. It is derived from Gustav /ˈɡʊstɑːv/, also spelled Gustaf, a Swedish name, likely from Slavic Gostislav. People w ...

. He described himself as an advocate of the approach developed by British economist

Alfred Marshall Alfred Marshall (26 July 1842 – 13 July 1924) was an English economist and one of the most influential economists of his time. His book ''Principles of Economics (Marshall), Principles of Economics'' (1890) was the dominant economic textboo ...

. Therefore, he was an ardent supporter of

free enterprise In economics, a free market is an economic system in which the prices of goods and services are determined by supply and demand expressed by sellers and buyers. Such markets, as modeled, operate without the intervention of government or any ot ...

. During the Fascist period Corbino and other liberal economists, including Attilio Cabiati, Edoardo Giretti and Luigi Einaudi did not become closer to the regime. He was author of many books. Later he also published studies of environmental problems, being one of the pioneers in this field in Italy.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Corbino, Epicarmo 20th-century Italian economists 1890 births 1984 deaths Government ministers of Italy Italian Liberal Party politicians People from Syracuse, Sicily Academic staff of the University of Naples Federico II Deputies of Legislature I of Italy Members of the National Council (Italy) Italian bankers Italian political party founders