Melchiorre Gioja, an Italian political economist, born in Piacenza, Sept. 20, 1767, died in Milan, Jan. 2, 1829. He studied in his native city at the college Alberoni, and received holy orders. He lived in retirement till the changes caused in Italy by the victories of Napoleon. The institute of the Cisalpine republic having proposed the question, Which of all free governments is the best for Italy ? he answered,The republican," in a dissertation which obtained the prize. He was subsequently appointed historiographer of the state. His liberal views caused him a temporary imprisonment in 1799. Having lost his situation as historiographer by a treatise on divorce (1803), and been removed from the hoard of statistics on account of articles criticising the management of public affairs, he revenged himself by a sarcastic article entitled Il povero diavolo, in consequence of which he was obliged to leave Italy. He was recalled after some years, and intrusted with the elaboration of the statistics of the kingdom of Italy. Suspected of participation in the liberal movements of 1820, he was arrested by the Austrian government, but set free after eight months' imprisonment.

He was a disciple of Bentham and Locke, and his numerous works on political economy are among the best in the Italian language.