GALIA'NI, FERDINANDO, was born at Chieti, in the Abruzzo, In 1728, and studied at Naples, where he first attracted attention by some humorous compositions which he published nnder an assumed name, to ridicule certain pedantic academician. (' Componlmeuti varii per la morns di Domenico Jannaccone carnefice della Gran Corte (fella Vicaria; 1749). In the following year his Important work, ' Della Moneta,' on the ' coin,' or 'currency,' was alto published under an assumed name. In this work he established the principle, which was then far from being acknowledged, that money is a merchandise, and that its value and interest ought to be left free like other goods. This work produced a great sensation on the Continent, and espe cially at Naples, where the government adopted its principles, and left the trade in bullion free. It is generally believed that Bartolommeo Intirri and the Marquis Rinuccini, two Tuscan economists of that time, furnished °alien', who was then a young man scarcely twenty one years of age, with their Ideas on the subject, which Galiani extended and produced in a readable shape. He published a second edition of this work, thirty years after, in 1780, with additions. In the first book he examines the intrinsic value of the precious metals, independent of their use as currency; In the second he treat. of the use of a metallic currency as a medium of exchange ; and in the third he discusses the relative value of the three metals used for coin, the conventional value of the coined currency of a conntry in relation to the prices of goods, and the occasional expedient adopted by some governments to raise the value of the currency.
In 1759 Galiani was sent to Paris as secretary of legation, and his vivacity, wit, and repartee rendered him a favourite among the fashionable and literary coteries of that capitaL Ile remained in Paris several years, visited England and Holland, and on his return to France wrote his 'Dialogues cur to Commerce des Ms,' which was his second work on political economy. lie did not publish this essay himself, but left the manuscript in the handegif Diderot, who had it printed in 1770. The French economists were then divided into two
parties, one of which advocated a free trade in corn, and the other was opposed to it An edict, published in 1764, permitting the free exportation of corn, was followed by a rise of prices and a scarcity, which by some were considered as the effects of that measure, whilst others denied the lufcrence. Galiani supported neither of the two systems absolutely : he contended that the laws concerning the corn trade must vary according to the situation of various states, the nature and cultivation of the respective soils, the relative position of their corn districts or provinces, and also the form of their govern ments. In a letter to Suard, dated 1770, he explains himself more clearly on this last topic, saying, "that under a despotic government a free exportation of corn might prove dangerous, as it might be followed by a famine, which would rouse the people against its rulers ; that in a democracy the same freedom is a natural result of the political institutions; whilst in mixed and temperate governments the freedom of the corn-trade must be modified by circumstances." On his return to Neples, °alienl was appointed by the king to the Board of Trade, and afterwards to the Board of Finances, and to the superintendence of the crown domains. Ills health, naturally weak, suffered from constant application, and he died In October 1787, at the age of fifty-nine years. lie left In manuscript a commentary or series of disquisitions on the life and character of Horace and the spirit of Lis poems, extracts from which are found in the ' Corre spondence def.:1.2ml avec Madame d'Epinay; Paris, 1818 ; In the notes to the Tradezions &Gnat° dl T. Gargano,' Naples, 1820; In the ' Vita dell' abate Ferdinand° Gallen!, iterate tia Luigi Dialled,' Naples, 1783; and in the 'Manson de l'ablel Suard, tirds de la Gazette littdraire d'Europe; ' see also Ugool, ' Della Letteratura vol. IL, art, ' Gallant.'