Social economics: a perspective of diversity and community

This paper analyzes the economics of Tommaso Campanella’s The City of the Sun in two ways. First, it shows that Campanella, an early developer of economics, conceived of the discipline in a systematic way, in the process making it a foundation for statecraft and spiritual growth. Second, the paper discusses topics in the text important to us even today; such as a theory of value, income and wealth distribution, the definition of a production unit, and the role of a theocratic government guided by the philosophers. The introduction puts The City of the Sun and Campanella’s work in a historical setting, concluding that he was an innovator and, at the same time, a representative of the thinking of the time period.