Research and Writings, 1936-2004 and undated, bulk 1960-2003

Scope and content:

Contains extensive documentation related to Modigliani's research and to the writing of his articles, papers, or book-length works. It includes several early writings by Modigliani, most notably his doctoral thesis, circa 1944, "The General Theory of Employment Interest and Money Under the Assumptions of Flexible Prices and of Fixed Prices" (New School of Social Research). Other writings from 1936-2003 can be found in the Non-Academic Works subseries, and in the Printed Material series, which houses reprints of almost all published articles by Modigliani. Research notes and correspondence are often organized in folders with the titles of the published work to which the materials relate. Other folders of research notes are categorized by subject terms. Formats include correspondence, drafts of writings, data, research notes, bibliographies, and econometric estimations. Major topics include econometric modeling; the life-cycle hypothesis of savings; social security; European Union and Italian economies; government economic policies; inflation; unemployment (especially in Europe); and mortgages. Other groups of materials represent Modigliani's long-term involvement with various projects, including the "MPS" model (an abbreviation deriving from the collaborators--MIT, Penn State, and the Social Sciences Research Council) of the US economy, sponsored by the United States Federal Reserve, and the NSF-funded project in the 1980s on monetary mechanisms and stabilization policies. There are also materials that pertain to Modigliani's memoir, Adventures of an Economist, published in 2003.

This subseries also includes Modigliani's comments on papers written by others. In this case, the comments are in a folder with the title of the original paper followed by "comments, F. Modigliani" and date. Overall, the subseries is further enhanced by the frequent presence of related correspondence between Modigliani and his co-authors or commentators, as well as printed materials (such as reports, clippings, reprints and journal articles) and writings by others, both published and unpublished, related to Modigliani's research. Significant collaborators and correspondents include S. L. Cao, Tullio Jappelli, Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa, Robert Solow, and Arlie Sterling. Arranged alphabetically by title of work, subject, or personal last name, then chronologically within folders.

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