Alberto Alesina facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Alberto Alesina
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Alesina in 2013
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| Born | 29 April 1957 Broni, Lombardy, Italy
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| Died | 23 May 2020 (aged 63) |
| Institution | Harvard University |
| Field | Political economics |
| Alma mater | Harvard University Bocconi University |
| Doctoral advisor |
Jeffrey Sachs |
| Doctoral students |
Silvana Tenreyro |
| Information at IDEAS / RePEc | |
Alberto Francesco Alesina (born April 29, 1957 – died May 23, 2020) was an Italian political economist. This means he studied how politics and government decisions affect the economy. Many people considered him one of the most important political economists of his time. He wrote many influential papers and books in both economics and political science.
Contents
Alberto Alesina's Life and Career
Alberto Alesina was born in Broni, a town in Lombardy, Italy. He earned his first degree in economics from Bocconi University in Italy.
Working at Harvard University
From 2003 to 2006, Alesina was the head of the Economics Department at Harvard University. He was also a special professor there, called the Nathaniel Ropes Professor of Political Economy. He visited and worked at many other important places. These included the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Tel Aviv University. He also worked with organizations like The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
His Writings and Ideas
Alesina wrote five books and helped edit many more. Two of his well-known books were The Future of Europe: Reform or Decline (2006) and Fighting Poverty in the US and Europe: A World of Difference (2004). He also helped edit the Quarterly Journal of Economics for eight years. He wrote articles for newspapers around the world. He was also a founder of two online economic websites, Voxeu.org and Lavoce.info.
Alesina studied many different topics in economics and politics:
- How politics can affect how economies grow and shrink over time.
- How governments manage their money, including taxes and spending.
- The process of European countries working more closely together.
- Ways to make prices stable in countries where they are rising very fast.
- When several countries decide to use the same money, like the Euro.
- How governments decide to share wealth more evenly among people.
- The differences in how the US and Europe help their citizens, like with healthcare.
- How different ways of voting can affect government decisions about the economy.
Alesina was a member of several important economic groups. These included the National Bureau of Economic Research in Massachusetts. He was also chosen as a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2006.
Alberto Alesina's Death
Alberto Alesina passed away on May 23, 2020. He was hiking with his wife, Susan, when he had a suspected heart attack. In 2021, Harvard University honored him by renaming its political economy workshop after him.
Understanding Austerity
Alesina was a strong supporter of austerity during the Great Recession. Austerity means strict government policies to cut spending and reduce debt. He believed that cutting government spending could actually help the economy grow. He thought that if people trusted the government to manage its money well, they would spend and invest more. This would make up for the government spending less.
The Debate on Austerity
In 2009, Alesina and Silvia Ardagna published a paper. It suggested that cutting government spending did not harm economies. Instead, they argued it helped economies recover. This paper was very influential with government leaders.
However, other economists disagreed. In 2013, Paul Krugman, a Nobel Prize winner, wrote an article. He argued that cutting spending during a weak economy would make things worse. He said that Alesina's paper was a direct challenge to the idea that government spending helps during tough times.
More recent studies, including some by the IMF, have questioned Alesina's findings. These studies often suggest that cutting government spending can actually slow down economic growth.
Selected Books by Alberto Alesina
- 1995. Partisan Politics, Divided Government and the Economy (with Howard Rosenthal).
- 1997. Political Cycles and the Macroeconomy (with Nouriel Roubini & Gerald D. Cohen).
- 1997. Designing Macroeconomic Policy for Europe (with Olivier Blanchard and others).
- 2003. The Size of Nations (with Enrico Spolaore).
- 2004. Fighting Poverty in the US and Europe: A World of Difference (with Edward Glaeser).
- 2006. The Future of Europe: Reform or Decline (with Francesco Giavazzi).
