Vilfredo Pareto

Vilfredo Federico Damaso Pareto (1848-1923) was an Italian engineer, economist, and political scientist. 

According to Murray Rothbard, 

“Heavily influenced by Molinari, Pareto’s writings came to the latter’s attention in 1887. Molinari then invited Pareto to submit articles to the Journal des Economistes. Pareto met the French liberals, and formed a friend ship with Yves Guyot, who was to be Molinari’s successor as editor of the Journal. ...

Pareto’s writings, furthermore, are studded with appreciative and often lengthy quotes from Molinari. Thus, in the same article on ‘Socialism and Freedom’, Pareto praises Molinari for advancing a unique and bold system that ‘proceed(s) towards the conquest of freedom, using all the knowledge that is offered by modern science’.

In his ‘Introduction to Marx’s Capital’ in a book on Marxism (Marxisme et economie pure, 1893), Pareto was clearly influenced by the French libertarian Dunoyer-Comte concept of the ‘ruling class’ as whatever group controls the state. He ended the chapter with a lengthy and admiring quote from Molinari, who carried through this libertarian class doctrine. Pareto ended the Molinari quote with this sentence: ‘Everywhere the ruling classes have one thought—their own selfish interests—and they use the government to satisfy them.’3

Pareto’s first great treatise on economics, the Cours d’Economie Politique (1896), was heavily influenced by both Molinari and Herbert Spencer. In every polity, he points out, there is a minority ruling class exploiting the majority who are the ruled. Tariffs Pareto treats as an example of legal spoliation, plunder and theft. Pareto left no doubt that his objective was to eradicate all such legalized plunder. As Placido Bucolo points out, Pareto did not, as some analysts claim, adopt a Marxian view of class struggle in his Cours. Instead, he adopted the French libertarian class doctrine. ...