L’albatros. Ricordo di Stefano Fenoaltea (The albatros. In memory of Stefano Fenoaltea)

Fenoaltea (1943-2020) e stato uno dei piu brillanti storici economici mondiali. Anche se si e concentrato in modo prevalente sulla storia economica dell’Italia liberale, ha pubblicato saggi su un’ampia varieta di temi, dall’Italia romana agli open fields inglesi, dall’ascesa e declino del feudalesimo alla storia della schiavitu. Le sue ricerche, spesso pioneristiche, hanno avuto un’enorme influenza sui colleghi e gli studiosi piu giovani, compreso chi scrive. Era tanto duro e tagliente nelle critiche, quanto generoso nei consigli. Esponente di punta della cliometria, o “new economic history”, di recente ne ha evidenziato i “fallimenti”, rispetto alle premesse. Ma la sua scelta di dedicarsi negli ultimi decenni quasi esclusivamente a un solo tema di ricerca, poco innovativo e di scarso interesse in ambito internazionale (la ricostruzione dell’indice della produzione italiana dal 1861 al 1913), e da annoverare fra quei fallimenti. Fenoaltea (1943-2020) was one of the most brilliant economic historians in the world. Although he has focused predominantly on the economic history of liberal Italy, he has published essays on a wide variety of topics, from Roman Italy to English open fields, from the rise and fall of feudalism to the history of slavery. His research, often pioneering, has had an enormous influence on colleagues and younger scholars, including the writer. He was as hard and sharp in criticism as he was generous in his advice. Leading exponent of cliometrics, or “new economic history”, he has recently highlighted its “failures”, compared to expectations. But his choice in recent decades to devote himself almost exclusively to a single research topic, not very innovative and of little interest in the international arena (the reconstruction of the Italian production index from 1861 to 1913), is an example of those failures. JEL codes: B32, N13, N14