FRANCO MODIGLIANI, R.I.P.

Brad DeLong reports the passing of a Nobel Prize-winning economist:

Franco Modigliani, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor who won the Nobel Prize in economics for his work on how people save money for their old age, has died at 85…. “He was certainly one of the giants,” said Bengt Holmstrom, head of the economics department at MIT. “The intensity was the hallmark of his style. It was hard to think about anybody else who was as passionate about economics.” Mr. Modigliani, who was born in Italy and emigrated to the United States just days before the outbreak of World War II, won the Nobel in 1985 for theories on how people save and for his work on how to determine the market value of businesses…

The man was 85, which is a ripe old age even today. The sad thing is that I had never heard of him. This is further proof of my maxim that there’s (virtually) no such thing as a famous social scientist. Or evidence that I don’t read enough.

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James Joyner
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James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.