Franco Modigliani and the Italian Left-Wing: the Debate over Labor Cost (1975-1978)

Journal title HISTORY OF ECONOMIC THOUGHT AND POLICY
Author/s Francesco Cattabrini
Publishing Year 2012 Issue 2012/1
Language English Pages 21 P. 75-95 File size 117 KB
DOI 10.3280/SPE2012-001006
DOI is like a bar code for intellectual property: to have more infomation click here

Below, you can see the article first page

If you want to buy this article in PDF format, you can do it, following the instructions to buy download credits

Article preview

FrancoAngeli is member of Publishers International Linking Association, Inc (PILA), a not-for-profit association which run the CrossRef service enabling links to and from online scholarly content.

In 1975 in Italy, as a result of an agreement between the Trade Unions and the Italian Manufacturers’ Association, the escalator clause mechanism was changed, establishing a 100% indexation of wages to the rate of inflation. This crucial event led to the so-called “Modigliani controversy”. This paper aims to examine the debate that arose in Italy following Franco Modigliani’s proposals over labor cost. Our main focus will be on the public debate that raised among economists, the majority of whom were part of the wide intellectual area gravitating around the left wing. Modigliani’s contributions sharpened the conflicts within the left and this resulted in a debate that ended with the acceptance of “Modigliani’s recipe”: a reduction in real wages was deemed necessary to bring Italy out of the economic crisis.

Keywords: Franco Modigliani, escalator clause, stagflation, Italy, labor cost

Jel codes: B22, E12, H11, J08

  • Balance of Payment, Wage Indexation and Growth: the Role of CESPE in Italian Policy-Making in the 1970s Francesco Cattabrini, Fabio Masini, in HISTORY OF ECONOMIC THOUGHT AND POLICY 2/2017 pp.25
    DOI: 10.3280/SPE2017-002002
  • An intellectual boost for Italy’s Europeanisation: the contribution of the influential think tanks Arel and Nomisma (1978–1993) Luca Sandonà, in The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought /2021 pp.324
    DOI: 10.1080/09672567.2020.1817118
  • The social and political bases of political economy: interpreting and periodising Italian developments since WWII Emanuele Ferragina, Alessandro Arrigoni, in New Political Economy /2024 pp.770
    DOI: 10.1080/13563467.2024.2344854
  • The Shaping of Incomes Policy in the Eighties. The Contribution of Ezio Tarantelli Giovanni Michelagnoli, in HISTORY OF ECONOMIC THOUGHT AND POLICY 2/2015 pp.37
    DOI: 10.3280/SPE2015-002003
  • Federico Caffè on the economic science in Italy Giovanni Michelagnoli, in HISTORY OF ECONOMIC THOUGHT AND POLICY 2/2020 pp.63
    DOI: 10.3280/SPE2019-002003
  • Industrial democracy between neocapitalism and postfordism. The political and intellectual trajectory of Bruno Trentin (1926-2007) Francesco S. Massimo, in STUDI ORGANIZZATIVI 2/2024 pp.27
    DOI: 10.3280/SO2023-002002
  • Selective Neoliberalism: How Italy Went from Dualization to Liberalisation in Labour Market and Pension Reforms Emanuele Ferragina, Alessandro Arrigoni, in New Political Economy /2021 pp.964
    DOI: 10.1080/13563467.2020.1865898

Francesco Cattabrini, Franco Modigliani and the Italian Left-Wing: the Debate over Labor Cost (1975-1978) in "HISTORY OF ECONOMIC THOUGHT AND POLICY" 1/2012, pp 75-95, DOI: 10.3280/SPE2012-001006