Carlo M. Cipolla

Carlo M. Cipolla (actually, Carlo Cipolla, Carlo Maria or even Carlo Manlio Cipola ) ( born August 15, 1922 in Pavia, † September 5, 2000 ) was an Italian economic historian and writer.

Life

After his studies at the Sorbonne and the London School of Economics, he began his career, first at the University of Catania ( Sicily ), followed by numerous other Italian universities. From 1959 until his retirement in 1991 he taught at the University of California at Berkeley. His work has been translated into many languages.

Awards

Cipolla was honored with several awards, he was in 1980 an honorary doctorate from ETH Zurich in 1992 and the Medical Faculty of the University of Pavia, and a member of the Royal Historical Society. In 1995 he was awarded the Balzan Prize for Economic History with this eulogy: " Carlo Maria Cipolla is considered by experts as authoritative researchers in economic history that has managed to open up more than others territory. Power of his restrained by intellectual and methodological rigor and curiosity thanks to meticulous exploration of the sources he has been able to treat in works of great originality to the various fields of economic and cultural history and thereby to connect survey-like representations with detailed investigations. "

Reception

A special case is his satirical book " Allegro ma non troppo ". First, only privately printed for friends, then published in 1988 at Il Mulino in Bologna, it was surprising to a bestseller (more than 300,000 circulation ). It consists of two essays, " Pepe, vino ( e lana ) come elementi determinanti dello Sviluppo economico nell'età di mezzo " German under the revised title "The role of spices (especially pepper ) for the economic development of the Middle Ages ", and "Le leggi della fondamentali stupidità umana " ( German: " the principles of human stupidity "). In the first Cipolla satirizes its own economic historical analysis technique to come to absurd conclusions, in the second he puts the surreal fundamental laws of stupidity ( the translation of " principles " does not entirely) based on economic parameters. He said ironically, he annoyed about the mismatch of effort and public success: He had devoted decades of great historical studies that would, at best, taken from " two or three colleagues " note, while these two essays, written down in two sleepless nights, enormous had produced widespread impact. Meanwhile, he is by some brilliant essays that are as published in German, become known to the large audience with his serious work.

The principles of human stupidity

These are in brief the five fundamental laws and principles of the stupidity that Cipolla satirical in his work " The principles of human stupidity " describes:

His Conclusion: The stupidity caused more harm than crime.

In the picture are the two " factors" that Cipolla observed in humans represented:

  • The X - axis gains ( high values ​​/ upper sections ) and losses ( low values ​​/ lower sections ), which causes an individual to himself,
  • The y- axis the gain ( high levels ) and losses ( low values ​​) that causes Individdum other. Stupid people (bottom left in the diagram) are counter-productive for themselves and for others
  • Bandits (bottom right) pursue their own interests ( have even a profit ), even if this results in a net disadvantage for social welfare.
  • Intelligent people (top right ) contribute to the society in and use their contributions also against own advantages
  • Naive people (top left) also contribute to the society ( it benefit the others), but have themselves no benefit.
  • In the middle are the helpless and ineffective people.

This representation can be only the essence of the "Theory " of Cipolla convey. For the full satirical understanding the reading of the original or a translation is recommended.

Works (selection)

Cipolla has written a large number of works on economic issues in English and Italian, including:

  • Istruzione e sviluppo. Il mondo nel declino dell'analfabetismo occidentale. ( Bologna: Il Mulino, 2002) ( Original engl. Literacy and Development in the West, Harmondsworth, Penguin Books, 1969)
  • The economic history of world population. ( dt: . economic history and the world's population Munich: dtv 1972, ISBN 3-423-04110-2 )
  • Le avventure della lira. ( Bologna: Il Mulino, 1975, ISBN 88-15-08498-3 )
  • Storia economica dell'Europa pre - Industriale. (English: Before the industrial revolution: european society and economy 1000-1700 London:. Methuen 1976, ISBN 0-416-80900-6 )
  • Tra due culture. Introduzione alla storia economica ( Bologna: Il Mulino, 1988)
  • Contro un nemico invisibile. Epidemic e strutture sanitarie nell'Italia del Rinascimento. ( Bologna: Il Mulino, 1986)
  • Allegro ma non troppo. (German: Berlin: Wagenbach 2001, ISBN 3-8031-1197-8 )
  • Conquistadores, pirati, mercadanti. ( Eng.: The Odyssey of the Spanish silver: Conquistadors, pirates, merchants Berlin. Wagenbach 1998, ISBN 3-8031-3594- X)
  • Vele e cannoni. ( Eng.: Sails and Cannons: European expansion to sea Berlin. Wagenbach 1999, ISBN 3-8031-3602-4 )
  • Tre storie Extra vaganti. (English: Money Adventure: extra Vagante stories from the European Economic life in Berlin. Wagenbach 1995, ISBN 3-8031-1150-1 )
  • Le macchine del tempo. L' orologio e la società ( 1300-1700 ). ( dt: . Counted Time Like the mechanical clock changed the lives, Berlin: Wagenbach 2011, ISBN 978-3-8031-2665-8 )
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