經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)及經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家逸聞趣事：有人刺殺莫迪利亞尼？

34. Modigliani Assassination?

Serena Modigliani warned her husband—the economist Franco Modigliani not to turn around【1】 if someone shouted his name on the streets of Rome. "Otherwise they'll shoot you," she said. It was the winter of 1978, and Italy was gripped by political violence and economic chaos. Franco Modigliani, an economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, had returned to the country of his birth to take part in 【2】 a televised debate, urging unpopular reforms.

When Mr Modigliani left his hotel the next morning, he heard a man behind him call his name. He tried to walk faster, but his pursuer drew nearer, and finally caught him, grabbing his jacket. An assassin? No: a cobbler, in fact, desperate to tell him that, of all the bigwigs on the television the previous night, Mr Modigliani had been the only one to say anything comprehensible."

Modigliani went on to win a Nobel Prize in Economics in 1985 and died peacefully in 2003.

有人刺殺莫迪利亞尼？

塞雷娜·莫迪利亞尼提醒她的丈夫——經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家佛朗哥·莫迪利亞尼：如果有人在羅馬大街上喊你的名字千萬不要回頭。“否則他們將槍殺你。”她說。她說這話的時(shí)候是1978年的冬季，當(dāng)時(shí)的意大利正處于政治暴力和經(jīng)濟(jì)混亂的困境。在麻省理工學(xué)院任教的經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家佛朗哥·莫迪利亞尼返回祖國(guó)參加一場(chǎng)電視辯論，敦促意大利政府實(shí)行不受歡迎的改革。

第二天早上，莫迪利亞尼先生正要離開酒店，聽到身后一名男子喊他的名字。莫迪利亞尼加快步伐，試圖擺脫這名男子，可是追隨者離他越來越近，最后終于抓住了他的夾克。是行刺者？不是。事實(shí)上追他的人是位修鞋匠，他之所以急匆匆地追莫迪利亞尼，是想告訴他：在昨天晚上電視上的所有要人中，只有他說的話是“聽得懂的”。

莫迪利亞尼繼續(xù)生活著并在1985年獲得諾貝爾獎(jiǎng)，2003年安然離世。

背景知識(shí)與點(diǎn)評(píng)

·佛朗哥·莫迪利亞尼（1918—2003）是出生于意大利的美國(guó)經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家，以生命周期理論（life-cycle theory）聞名于世。

·生命周期理論現(xiàn)已成為宏觀經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)中的一部分，其主要觀點(diǎn)是把人生分為青年、壯年、老年三個(gè)階段，認(rèn)為消費(fèi)者總是要估算一生總收入并考慮在生命過程中如何最佳分配自己的收入，以獲得一生中最大的消費(fèi)滿足。

·莫迪利亞尼夫人的忠告讓人不由得想起《教父》中的鏡頭，意大利的黑手黨名不虛傳啊。

·連修鞋匠都能聽懂這位經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家說的話，說明并非所有經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家都是脫離現(xiàn)實(shí)的人。

英語知識(shí)鏈接

【1】 turn around：轉(zhuǎn)身

【2】 take part in：參加…，參與…活動(dòng)