On the other hand, a socialist economy was portrayed as giving the working classes a “free ride” to work less and consume more. For Italian economists it was understood that, once hired by the state, employees degenerated in their behavior, becoming the antithesis of the virtuous homo economicus. Public employees became immoral “loafers” [fannulloni] because they lost the sound economic incentive of the unfettered market (Ricci 1926, 13). “Th e employee is brought to consider the fi xed stipend as an acquired right, a guaranteed pension [pensione di garanzia] in exchange for which there is no obligation to give anything,” Einaudi argued. He scolded, “the duty to work arises when overtime begins, since it’s uncertain and is paid according to the work done” (Einaudi 1959– 65, vol. 5, 233).

Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, loc. 1241