Antonio Serra
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For the Italian comics writer, see Antonio Serra (comics)
Antonio Serra was a late 16th century Italian writer in the Mercantilist tradition.
Little is known about his life. He was born in Cosenza in the late 16th century. when he was caled to work in Naples, he applied in solving the enormous social and economic problems created by the Spanish viceroy system. involved in a conjure with the philosopher Tommaso Campanella, in 1613 Serra was jailed. During the imprisonment he wrote his sole work, the Breve trattato delle cause che possono far abbondare li regni d’oro e d’argento dove non sono miniere, dealing with the shortage of coin in the Kingdom of Naples.
He was the first to analyse and fully understand the concept of balance of trade for both visible goods and invisible services and capital movements. He explained how the shortage of specie in the Neapolitan kingdom was due to balance of payments deficit. Using his findings he was able to reject the popular idea at the time that the scarcity in money was due to the exchange rate. The solution to the problem was found in the active encouragement of exports.
