Suchergebnisse

The essay attempts a survey of the economic and social impact of non-landed levies, meaning by this all the drainages of wealth in which the exercise of coercive powers played a decisive role. It follows a "macro" and "geo" economic approach, paying particular attention to the redistribution of wealth on the territory. After an inventory of the different types of levies, it proposes an overview for 4 macro-areas (1. the Alpine and Apennine areas; 2. the marginal areas; 3 the expanding areas of the South and Sicily: 4. Po Valley), with a focus on levies that appear to have the greatest impact. That is: tolls and other charges on trade; control of collective resources; personal burdens (military and civil); and also state taxes, monopolies or tributes belonging to the state and granted to the lords in various forms of delegation, not ubiquitous, but sometimes important. Only a few hints are dedicated to judicial proceeds, rights on the circulation of land and people, and tributes on the borderline with the landed-based ones.

Social security systems are in crisis almost everywhere in the world, partly due to the bad management from the past, especially far back in time, and partly due to their intrinsic characteristics, which were not always well understood by those who designed them, and even less so by those who subsequently intervened to change them. However, removing the many layers that have gradually been added to the debate, it seems possible to focus on the few, truly relevant variables about the issue, to separate the political choices from the exogenous variables (the constraints), to bring out the consequences of the different possible choices in the long and short run, and thus to contribute to safeguarding one of the cornerstones the modern social state, even if it is downsized in the process. In doing so, it also seems appropriate to clarify the compromise point that is intended to be pursued between actuarial equity and redistribution, two unfortunately incompatible, but still very relevant goals, which have always (confusingly) been present in the debate on the social security systems.