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Enrico BaroneSoldier, military historian and economist.
Date of Birth: 22.12.1859
Country:  Italy |
Content:
Biography of Enrico Barone
Enrico Barone was a soldier, military historian, and economist. He was born in Naples, Italy. Before his military service, Barone actively studied mathematics, ancient literature, and ancient languages. He taught military history at the Officers' Training School for eight years and later published a series of significant historical works. In these works, he utilized the method of successive approximations, which he drew from economics.
In 1894, Barone, along with Maffeo Pantaleoni and Vilfredo Pareto, worked on the publication of 'Giornale degli Economisti'. It was Barone who first announced the conditions under which a market of free competition could become Pareto efficient. He significantly expanded Pareto's concept of efficiency, demonstrating that not all losers could compensate for their losses by deviating from the conditions of competitive equilibrium.
Barone introduced the concept of variable factor proportions in neoclassical economics, thus accelerating the development of the marginal-productivity theory of income distribution. He later developed the conditions for global equilibrium based on Walrasian theory, suggesting the usefulness of trial and error for organizing market equilibrium. Barone also pioneered the economic theory of index numbers. It is worth noting that he developed all this without using the principle of utility or indifference curves. Barone is often referred to as the founder of pure theory of socialist economics.
In 1908, Barone constructed a mathematical model of a collectivist economy, which, under certain factors related to hidden prices, could achieve maximum collective welfare. This system achieved such a result by reducing costs per unit of production. These ideas sparked active debates on market socialism and the problems of economic calculation.
