GIOJA, MELCHIORRE (1767-1829), Italian writer on philosophy and political economy, was born at Piacenza, on Sept. 20, 1767. Renouncing his orders in i 796, he went to Milan, and on the arrival of Napoleon in Italy, advocated a republic under the dominion of the French in a pamphlet I Tedeschi, i Francesi, ed i Russi in Lombardia. Under the Cisalpine Republic he became historiographer and director of statistics. He was several times imprisoned, in 182o on a charge of being implicated in a con spiracy with the Carbonari. After the fall of Napoleon he retired into private life, and died at Milan on Jan. 2, 1829.
Besides the Nuovo Prospetto delle scienze economiche (1815 17 ), a summary of what had already been written on economics, administration and finance, Gioja's more important productions which reflect his passion for statistics and his inclination towards the English economists, are Del merito e delle recompense (1818), Filosofia della statistics (2 vols., 1826) and contributions to the Annali Universali di Statistica founded by him in 1824. His com plete works appeared at Lugano (1832-49).
See monographs by G. D. Romagnosi (1829) and F. Falco (1866) , and G. Pecchio, Storia dell' economia pubblica in Italia (1829) .