Every year the Bank of Italy awards scholarships in honour of Professors Albert Ando and Franco Modigliani, to Italian students accepted for their first year of study for a PhD in Economics at the University of Pennsylvania (PENN) or the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), universities where Albert Ando and Franco Modigliani conducted most of their scientific work.
These two universities send the Bank of Italy the applications made by Italian students who have been accepted for the first year of the PhD programme at the Department of Economics for the following academic year. Then, a Panel of Bank of Italy economists examines the candidates’ profiles and draws up a list that gives priority, on alternate years, to one or other of the two universities. For the academic year 2024-25, priority will be given to students beginning their PhD at the University of Pennsylvania (PENN).
The scholarship covers university fees and provides funding of €27,000 for the first year of study.
The procedure for awarding the scholarship is completed each year by the end of April.
Franco Modigliani and Albert Ando worked with the Bank of Italy's Research Department to develop an econometric model of the Italian economy, contributing to the improvement of the Bank's forecasting capabilities and the enhancement of its competencies and prestige. The economic model which, according to Guido Carli (1987) was 'strategic capital' for economic policy, played an irreplaceable role in 'systematizing knowledge' and in providing quantitative support for theoretical analysis. The model constituted the 'intellectual gymnasium' for young generations of economists and became part of the Bank's 'capital' providing the basis for the continuity of its economic methods and culture.
Franco Modigliani (Rome, 18 June 1918 – Cambridge, MA, 25 September 2003)
Franco Modigliani was born in Rome where, in the 1930s, he attended the Visconti High School (classical studies), going on to enrol in the law faculty at the Sapienza University of Rome at the age of 17. After the passing of the racial laws in Italy, he left Europe to live in the United States, where he completed his studies. He taught in various universities, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he held the position of Institute Professor from 1962 to the end of his academic career. For his pioneering analyses of saving and of financial markets, he was awarded the Nobel prize for economics in 1985.
Albert Ando (Tokyo, 15 November 1929 – Philadelphia, 19 September 2002)
Born in Tokyo, he moved to the United States after the Second World War and in 1959 he obtained a PhD in mathematical economics. In 1967 he became Professor of Economics and Finance at the University of Pennsylvania, a position he held until his death. He conducted important studies, in collaboration with two winners of the Nobel prize for economics, Herbert A. Simon and Franco Modigliani, analysing questions regarding aggregation and causation in economic systems with the former, and formulating the life cycle analysis of saving, spending and income with the latter.
