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This essay deals with some key Italian contributions to econometrics in the twentieth century. It opens with some notes on the need to define and measure each dimension of the manifold notion of well-being. While considering the convinced supporters of the methodological adoption of tools devised by economics and statistics, the central part of the essay focuses on Corrado Gini (1884–1965). He was Italy's leading econometrician and the main reference of the international network of econometricians until the 1940s. Other Italian members of the newly formed Econometric Society are also cited, specifically Luigi Amoroso and Umberto Ricci, because of the relevance of their contribution. The essay concludes by referring to Gini's rejection of econometrics, which coincided with the appearance of a new generation of social scientists whose aim was to combine economics, statistics, and mathematics.

This essay focuses on Francesco Vito (1902–1968), one of the most important Italian economists and a contributor to an extensive, thorough debate in Catholic social thinking, a debate at times accompanied and followed by exacting and solid experience in the real world, in an effort to turn into action the mediation between the Gospel and history proposed by Catholic social thinking. Economists made that effort under the influence of what could be regarded as the last stage of a tradition that was already present in the culture of economic matters and behavior and had previously been expressed as the preoccupation of Catholic intellectuals and politicians with the novelty of "modern" phenomena. It was a continuation but, of course, a renewed one.This essay—mainly dealing with Vito; Giuseppe Toniolo (1845–1918), one of Vito's key mentors; and Luigi L. Pasinetti (b. 1930), one of Vito's most important students—emphasizes the basic difference that Vito conceives between faith and religion, on the one hand, and between the importance of the documents of the authoritative official social Magisterium of the Catholic Church, on the other—which cannot be disregarded or underestimated—and the historical relevance of the debates and the intellectual and factual work preceding and following those debates. This cross-analysis, which takes into account both sides of the question, that is, both the solid faith of people who see themselves as belonging to the cultural framework of Catholic moral teaching and their secular nature as people engaged in temporal affairs who order these according to the plan of God and live in the ordinary circumstances of family and social life—in our case, economists by profession—is a challenging subject for a historian of economic thought.

The article deals with Jenny Griziotti Kretschmann, born in Wishni-Wolostchok (Russia) on 22 June 1884 in a middleclass family of German origin & 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, & attended courses held by Antonio De Viti De Marco, Rodolfo Benini & 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 & Finance at the University of Parma (1935-1940) & of History of Economic Doctrines at the University of Pavia (1940-1954); since 1948 she was also assigned the course of Finance & Economic Policy. She never had the possibility to hold any academic chair; those who knew her acknowledged that her political creed & her status as an academic's wife did not favor her career at all. Some prevailing paths of interest can be discerned in her numerous articles, essays & monographs on issues in Economy & 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 & financial policies, & 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 & ideological milieus in which they constitute & evolve in time. Part of her fecund activity is reflected in textbooks on economic policy & finance (1950-1954) & her commitment, also to the diffusion of economic thought, is testified by her transla-tions into Italian of works by Wagemann (1932), Wicks ell, von Mises & Hayek (1935) & the fifth Italian edition of Economics by P. Samuelson (1964). Partly inventoried biographical material & 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. References. Adapted from the source document.