Dr. Paolo Silvestri – Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies

Dr. Paolo Silvestri

University of Turin
Legal and Political Philosophy; Philosophy of Economics

External Senior Fellow (Marie S. Curie FCFP Fellow)
December 2017 – July 2018
September 2018 – October 2018

Website

E-Mail: paolo.silvestri@unito.it

Last Update: 31.08.2018

Curriculum Vitae

PAOLO SILVESTRI has a Degree in Economics and Commerce, a PhD in Philosophy of Law (University of Padova). From 2004 to 2012 was Assistant professor in Philosophy of Law (University of Turin), and is Habilitated Associate Professor both in Philosophy of Law and Political Philosophy since 2013.

He currently is: Research fellow in Economics at the Department of Economics and Statistics “Cognetti de Martiis” (University of Turin); Contract professor of Political Economy and Philosophy, Justice, Economy at the University of Turin, Economic Analysis of Law at the Bocconi University; Coordinator of the Cornell-in-Turin Study Abroad Programme, where he also teaches modules in Philosophy, Politics and Economics.

His research interests are in History and Philosophy of Economics; Legal and Political Philosophy.

He held visiting positions at Cornell University as “Luigi Einaudi” Chair Holder and Visiting Scholar at the Mario Einaudi Center and Cornell Law School. He was also External Senior Fellow at Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies, University of Freiburg, and Visiting Fellow at the Department of Government, London School of Economics and Political Science.

He is member of the Editorial Boards of several journals and editorial series, and member of the scientific committee of the National Edition of the Works of Luigi Einaudi.

Among his honours and prizes he has been awarded the “WorldWide Style2” Fellowship 2015 (University of Turin) for the research project Enquiry into the human foundations of a new fiscal democracy, and the STOREPgrant Award 2016 for the research project Theories of tax justice: between exchange and gift.

Selected Publications

Silvestri P., Economia, diritto e politica nella filosofia di Croce. Tra finzioni, istituzioni e libertà [Economics, Law and Politics in Croce’s Philosophy. Between Fictions, Institutions and Freedom] Giappichelli, Turin 2012, 318 pp.
Silvestri P., Il liberalismo di Luigi Einaudi o del Buongoverno [On the Liberalism of Luigi Einaudi or Of Good Government], Rubbettino, Soveria Mannelli 2008, 331 pp.
Silvestri P., “Freedom and taxation between good and bad polity, and the economist-whole-man”, in L. Einaudi, On Abstract and Historical Hypotheses and on Value judgments in Economic Sciences, Critical edition with an Introduction and Afterword by Paolo Silvestri, Routledge, London-New York, 2017, pp. 94-136
Silvestri P., “Disputed (Disciplinary) Boundaries. Philosophy, Economics and Value Judgments”, History of Economic Ideas, XXIV, 2016/3, pp. 187-221
Silvestri P., “Anthropology of freedom and tax justice: between exchange and gift. Thoughts for an interdisciplinary research agenda”, Teoria e critica della regolazione sociale, 2/2015, pp. 115-132

FRIAS Project

Anthropology of Taxation. Enquiry into the Human Foundations of Fiscal Democracy.

Why do we pay taxes? What kind of reciprocities are involved in paying taxes and in redistributive policies? Is it possible to conceive taxation as a form of gift? The main purpose of the present research is to build up an anthropology of taxation – based on an interdisciplinary dialogue about the notion of reciprocity – capable of providing new answers to these old questions.

The two main steps towards such an anthropology of taxation are: 1) developing a model of good/bad societies and governments, aimed at re-modelling the social pactum as a three-dimensional social contract at the intersection between horizontal, vertical and intertemporal relationships of reciprocity; 2) developing an empirical enquiry into the “percentage philanthropy mechanism”, which is the only existing legal mechanism through which taxpayers can freely devolve part of their income tax as a gift to the third sector.

Overall, this approach aims to forge new lens through which to re-read the fiscal system as a key factor of social bond, and to conceive the possibility of a new welfare society and of a new fiscal democracy.