Economist awarded top academic prize

Ivano Cardinale, Reader in Economics in the Institute of Management Studies (IMS), received the prestigious Feltrinelli Giovani Prize 2022 for the Social Sciences.

Awarded by Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei in the presence of the President of the Republic, it is the leading honour for Italian scholars under the age of 40. It includes a monetary prize of EUR 50,000.

The Feltrinelli Prize was endowed by Antonio Feltrinelli of the renowned publishing family. It has been awarded since 1950 to recognise outstanding achievements in the arts and sciences.

The Prize originally had two categories: International and Italian. Recipients include Thomas Mann, Italo Calvino, Igor Stravinsky, Rita Levi Montalcini, Gaetano Salvemini, Arnaldo Momigliano, Hans Kelsen, Luchino Visconti, Joan Miró, Mario Rigoni Stern, Giacomo Rizzolatti, Ermanno Olmi, Carlo Ginzburg, Carlo Poni and Renata Colorni.

Among economists, the Prize was awarded to Arthur Cecil Pigou, Ragnar Frisch, Gottfried Haberler, Paolo Sylos Labini, Siro Lombardini and Mario Draghi.

More recently, the “Feltrinelli Giovani” category of the Prize was established for Italian scholars under the age of 40. Among recipients in this category there is mathematician Alessio Figalli, who went on to receive the Fields Medal.

In the Prize motivation, the Academy highlighted Ivano Cardinale’s pioneering research in Structural Political Economy, and especially on the “mutual shaping of social groups’ collective actions and the socio-economic structures within which those actions take place”.