Merit economy
The recently published complete critical edition of a work on economics from 200 years ago can help us better understand the contemporary world
Knowing what merit is, looking out for it, identify and reward it, in order to develop and disseminate it – an economy based on virtues, then, or, a virtuous economy dedicated to development, not merely growth. The kind of economy that, nowadays, we are seeking as the solution to the many circumstances that companies and enterprises have to tackle, yet a kind of economy that on closer inspection has been in existence since centuries and that we find narrated and explained in Del merito e delle ricompense (On merit and rewards), a book published between 1818 and 1819 by Melchiorre Gioia, published today as a critical edition.
Gioia’s book is rather dense, and has one goal: that of providing a scientific method to measure quantitative and qualitative variants such as virtues – especially relational virtues – that are truly essential to the good functioning of economy and society, while also identifying ways to engender them. How to promote the development of virtuous behaviours in modern societies? How to reward merit without affecting the interplay of deepest human motivations that monetary rewards would only displace and discourage? These are just a few of the questions guiding an investigation whose nature is still very contemporary.
Indeed, our current market society appeals to meritocracy believing merit to be one-dimensional, an easily identifiable criterion when making good choices. As such, the kind of merit to be rewarded takes the form of an increase in returns and turnover – something more relatable to men than women and to individuals than teams, something linked to position rather than relations. In fact, relational and qualitative merit is rather difficult to be objectively determined, can easily be abused, has a more vulnerable nature and is often ignored by a society that suffers from relational and emotional illiteracy. Gioia’s book explains how important intangible features really are and how relational and spiritual capital actually determined the economic and human development of those societies that first learned to identify, acknowledge and reward it.
Hence, reading Gioia’s work today means finding words (and meanings) anew, in order to recreate a vocabulary that can express and recognise merit outside the easy praise that characterises meritocratic ideology and beyond the absurd desire of having all factors perfectly measured. Indeed, one of Gioia’s passages reads, “Individual claiming to find exact measures for moral matters, just as it happens with physical matters, only show how scant their understanding is.”
Del merito e delle ricompense (On merit and rewards)
Gioia Melchiorre
Vita e Pensiero, 2023
The recently published complete critical edition of a work on economics from 200 years ago can help us better understand the contemporary world
Knowing what merit is, looking out for it, identify and reward it, in order to develop and disseminate it – an economy based on virtues, then, or, a virtuous economy dedicated to development, not merely growth. The kind of economy that, nowadays, we are seeking as the solution to the many circumstances that companies and enterprises have to tackle, yet a kind of economy that on closer inspection has been in existence since centuries and that we find narrated and explained in Del merito e delle ricompense (On merit and rewards), a book published between 1818 and 1819 by Melchiorre Gioia, published today as a critical edition.
Gioia’s book is rather dense, and has one goal: that of providing a scientific method to measure quantitative and qualitative variants such as virtues – especially relational virtues – that are truly essential to the good functioning of economy and society, while also identifying ways to engender them. How to promote the development of virtuous behaviours in modern societies? How to reward merit without affecting the interplay of deepest human motivations that monetary rewards would only displace and discourage? These are just a few of the questions guiding an investigation whose nature is still very contemporary.
Indeed, our current market society appeals to meritocracy believing merit to be one-dimensional, an easily identifiable criterion when making good choices. As such, the kind of merit to be rewarded takes the form of an increase in returns and turnover – something more relatable to men than women and to individuals than teams, something linked to position rather than relations. In fact, relational and qualitative merit is rather difficult to be objectively determined, can easily be abused, has a more vulnerable nature and is often ignored by a society that suffers from relational and emotional illiteracy. Gioia’s book explains how important intangible features really are and how relational and spiritual capital actually determined the economic and human development of those societies that first learned to identify, acknowledge and reward it.
Hence, reading Gioia’s work today means finding words (and meanings) anew, in order to recreate a vocabulary that can express and recognise merit outside the easy praise that characterises meritocratic ideology and beyond the absurd desire of having all factors perfectly measured. Indeed, one of Gioia’s passages reads, “Individual claiming to find exact measures for moral matters, just as it happens with physical matters, only show how scant their understanding is.”
Del merito e delle ricompense (On merit and rewards)
Gioia Melchiorre
Vita e Pensiero, 2023