Il prezzo della patria. Stato, negozianti e regolazione dei prezzi alla voce nel Mezzogiorno nel secondo '700

Historians regard the use, typical of the Kingdom of Naples, of trading commodities
at alla voce prices (collectively negotiated prices or prices fixed by
a local authority) as proof of the usurious nature of the merchants operating
in the Kingdom and, to some extent, of the limits of the Bourbons' reformism
in the late Eighteenth century, which failed to abolish alla voce
prices, in spite of the pressure exercised by distinguished enlighteners. This
essay exposes the weaknesses of this interpretation, which, by looking at alla
voce prices through the lens of economic liberalism, obscures their collective
and public dimension and consequently fails to grasp the terms and reasons
of governmental action on this subject, and even the role played by
voci and by the merchants themselves in the arduous economic conditions
of the Kingdom during the second half of the century.