Maffeo Pantaleoni

Maffeo Pantaleoni (Frascati, 2 July 1857 – Milan, 29 October 1924) was an Italian economist. At first he was a notable proponent of neoclassical economics. Later in his life, before and during World War I, he became an ardent nationalist and syndicalist, with close ties to the Fascist movement. He was Minister of Finance in the Carnaro government of Gabriele D'Annunzio at Fiume, which lasted for fifteen months between 1919 and 1920. Shortly before his death, he was elected to the Italian Senate.

Pantaleoni was a major contributor to the Italian school of economics known as 'La Scienza delle Finanze'. His book 'Teoria della Traslazione dei Tributi' (theory of tax shifting) is a pioneering study of tax incidence. According to Nobel prize winner James M. Buchanan, Pantaleoni and his followers (such as Antonio De Viti De Marco and Vilfredo Pareto) can be considered the intellectual forefathers of the modern public choice theory. He was occasionally referred to as "the Marshall of Italy", because of his unrelenting defense of laissez-faire economic policies.

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