|
Daniela Parisi
Una lunga vita da economista. L'itinerario biografico e
scientifico di Jenny Kretschmann Griziotti (1884-1980)
215
Maggio-Agosto
2007
Anno
LXXII n. 2
Summary
- The article deals with Jenny Griziotti Kretschmann, born in
Wishni-Wolostchok (
Russia
) on 22 June
1884 in
a middleclass family of German origin and died on 4 December
1980 in
Pavia
(
Italy
). In October 1905 she moved from
Moscow
to
Lausanne
in order to enroll at the Faculty of Social Sciences where she attended
Vilfredo Pareto’s courses in Economics. Here she met Benvenuto Griziotti,
also in
Lausanne
for a postgraduate specializing course; in
Pavia
he would become one of the major Italian scholars in Finance. In 1908 she
followed him to
Rome
where she enrolled at the Faculty of Law, and attended courses held by
Antonio De Viti De Marco, Rodolfo Benini and Maffeo Pantaloni, who was
carrying out innovative analysis on system dynamics factors. Under
Pantaleoni’s supervision, she got her full degree in December 1912. From
1930 until her retirement in 1954 she taught as a Lecturer in Economics at
the
University
of
Pavia
(1930-1933), was assigned the course of Financial Law and Finance at the
University
of
Parma
(1935-1940) and of History of Economic Doctrines at the
University
of
Pavia
(1940-1954); since 1948 she was also assigned the course of Finance and
Economic Policy. She never had the possibility to hold any academic chair;
those who knew her acknowledged that her political creed and her status as
an academic’s wife did not favour her career at all.Some prevailing paths
of interest can be discerned in her numerous articles, essays and monographs
on issues in Economy and Economic Theory. Initially (1915-1929) she carried
out pioneer systematic analysis of the peculiar features of Russian economy.
Another area of interest of hers was the analysis of long-term price
movements. A third research area she addressed included issues in economic
and financial policies, and a fourth area of interest was the history of
economic thought, in which regard her handbook is of primary importance; it
is based on an interdisciplinary approach, as systems can be fully
understood only if analyzed in the context of the social and ideological
milieus in which they constitute and evolve in time. Part of her fecund
activity is reflected in textbooks on economic policy and finance
(1950-1954) and her commitment, also to the diffusion of economic thought,
is testified by her translations into Italian of works by Wagemann (1932),
Wicksell, von Mises and Hayek (1935) and the fifth Italian
edition of Economics by P.
Samuelson (1964). Partly inventoried biographical material and the
collection of her writings are available in the Griziotti Family Archive in
Pavia
(
Italy
). The most significant recognition of her status has only recently been
awarded by those few - not Italian - authors who came in contact with her
scientific work.
|