2025/09/10 by Rogério Arthmar, Michael McLure · 1 voice
Arts and Humanities · Social Sciences · #German Social Sciences and History #Philosophy, Science, and History #Twentieth Century Scientific Developments
paper · doi:10.1080/10370196.2025.2544399
openalex publication_date 2025/09/10 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/15
Ragnar Frisch was awarded the Feltrinelli Prize by the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei in 1961, an honour he cherished for the remainder of his life. We find three reasons for the choice. First, from Frisch’s exchanges with Italian fellows of the Econometric Society in the 1930s, we show that he was embraced by an informal network of leading Italian scholars. Second, we draw on the archives of the Accademia to present an account of its committee’s deliberations and the weight attributed to econometrics in the deliberations. Third, we consider the extent to which Frisch’s work on choice theory and collective welfare was undertaken as a critical assessment of Pareto’s inquiries into those topics. We conclude that the awarding of the Feltrinelli Prize to Frisch reflected the relevance of his Italian network, of his studies on utility and welfare, and of his role in the development of the Econometric Society.