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Michele Boldrin

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Michele Boldrin
Boldrin in 2010
Born (1956-08-20) 20 August 1956 (age 68)
Padua, Italy
Nationality
  • Italy
  • United States
Academic career
FieldMacroeconomics, general equilibrium, public policy
InstitutionWashington University in St. Louis
Alma mater
Doctoral
advisor		Lionel W. McKenzie
ContributionsPolicy functions, dynamic programming, endogenous fluctuations and chaos in dynamic models, growth theory

Michele Boldrin (Italian: [miˈkɛːle bolˈdrin]; 20 August 1956) is an Italian-born academic, former politician, youtuber, and economist working in the areas of economic growth, business cycles, technological progress, and intellectual property. He is the Joseph Gibson Hoyt Distinguished Professor in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis.

Along with his colleague and co-author David Levine, he was part of the group of 200 economists publicly opposing the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.[1][2]

Early life, education, and career

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Boldrin was born and raised in Padua and later moved to Venice.[3] He did his undergraduate studies at the University of Venice. He then received his M.S. (1985) and Ph.D. (1987) in economics from the University of Rochester in New York under the supervision of Lionel McKenzie.[4] Before moving to St. Louis in the Fall of 2006, he taught at University of Chicago (1986–1987), UCLA (1987–1994), Kellogg School of Management (1990–1994), Charles III University of Madrid (1994–1999), and University of Minnesota (1999–2006). He is a research fellow at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis since 2006.

Boldrin is a Fellow of the Econometric Society, a past Associate Editor of Econometrica, and past editor and current associate editor of the Review of Economic Dynamics, among other academic journals. He co-wrote four books and was a visiting professor in Barcelona, Rio de Janeiro, Mexico City, Tokyo, and a number of other places. He is affiliated with CEPR and director of FEDEA. He is one of the founding editors of the Italian blog noiseFromAmerika, and he contributes regularly to Against Monopoly and Nada es Gratis, which are respectively in English and Spanish. His two most recent books are Against Intellectual Monopoly,[5] coauthored with David K. Levine (CUP, 2008) and Tremonti, istruzioni per il disuso,[6] co-authored with Alberto Bisin, Sandro Brusco, Andrea Moro, and Giulio Zanella (Ancora, 2010), in Italian.

Research

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Boldrin conducts ongoing research in dynamic general equilibrium theory, focusing specifically on the sources of business fluctuations, growth and development, technological innovation, and intellectual property. Collaborating with David K. Levine, Boldrin examines the role played by competitive versus monopolistic markets in growth and innovation. They posit that little evidence exists for the presence of increasing returns at the aggregate level, and thus argue that there is no reason to believe that increasing returns play an important role in actual economic growth. This implies that, in theory as in practice, competitive markets favor and promote continued growth and innovation, whereas monopoly power is not necessary and probably harmful to technological change and economic development. Their theory concludes that existing claims for the necessity of intellectual property in the process of growth and innovation are greatly exaggerated.[7]

Political and scientific views

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Before the 2013 Italian general election, Boldrin co-founded with economist Luigi Zingales and journalist Oscar Giannino the political movement Act to Stop the Decline. Because of the poor results the party achieved in the 2014 European Parliament election, he resigned. Later on, he focused on his own YouTube channel and founded in late 2018 a think-tank called Liberi Oltre le illusioni (Free Beyond Illusions).

Boldrin has been an outspoken critic of Modern Monetary Theory, debating with American economist Warren Mosler,[8] as well as Italian journalist Paolo Barnard.[9] In his youth, he has been an Avanguardia Operaia supporter, while taking office as provincial secretary of the Italian Communist Youth Federation.[10] Later on, he was a Republican Party (GOP) and Lega Nord supporter,[11] advocating for more cultural liberal positions, and later endorsed Italian civil rights activist Marco Cappato.[12] He is critical of More Europe, the party Cappato belongs to, especially criticizing their economic plan,[13] as well as the alliances within the party,[14] and defined the members of the party as "sell-outs".[15] He compared the Donald Trump-led GOP to the Italian right-wing party Lega (after the rise of Matteo Salvini), as well as to Berlusconism.[16] He criticized Nassim Taleb,[17] as well as econophysics in general, debating with Italian geologist Francesco Sylos Labini, son of the Schumpeterian economist Paolo Sylos Labini.[18]

In September 2024, together with Alberto Forchielli, he founded a political association called Movimento Drin Drin (Ring Ring Movement), which serves as a preliminary step towards creating a future political party.[19][20][21]

References

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  1. ^ Economists object to Obama stimulus plan, Washington University Press Release.
  2. ^ SMACK! Economics scholars debate pros, cons of stimulus package Archived 2011-07-18 at the Wayback Machine, UC Davis News release.
  3. ^ Michele Boldrin, Joseph Gibson Hoyt Distinguished Professor in Arts & Sciences and Chair
  4. ^ "Boldrin's Autobiography". Archived from the original on 1 January 2019. Retrieved 4 October 2009.
  5. ^ ASIN 0521127262
  6. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 10 February 2010. Retrieved 11 February 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. ^ "Michele Boldrin - Intellectual Property Page". Archived from the original on 6 September 2019.
  8. ^ "Boldrin & Mosler - Debate on MMT - YouTube". www.youtube.com. 25 October 2019. Archived from the original on 20 December 2021. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
  9. ^ "Quei 'pazzi' dell'Mmt". l'Espresso (in Italian). 26 November 2012. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
  10. ^ ""Questa classe dirigente va spazzata via" - la Nuova di Venezia". Archivio - la Nuova di Venezia (in Italian). 18 February 2007. Retrieved 31 August 2020.
  11. ^ "Boldrin: "l'Italia non crescerà mai più, Europa e Fmi, bocciature annunciate"". Linkiesta.it (in Italian). 17 January 2017. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
  12. ^ Boldrin, Michele [@micheleboldrin] (17 January 2019). "Chi voglia dare una mano a Marco Cappato si iscriva a +Europa, via sito internet, entro domani sera. Questo richiedono i termini congressuali. Grazie" (Tweet) (in Italian). Retrieved 19 January 2021 – via Twitter.
  13. ^ "Michele Boldrin". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
  14. ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: Post mortem volante sul congresso di +Europa. Con Costantino De Blasi. YouTube.
  15. ^ Boldrin, Michele [@micheleboldrin] (21 May 2019). "@SignorErnesto @DentiRotti @ricpuglisi @itinagli @pdnetwork @CarloCalenda @BeatriceCovassi @gualtierieurope @mrctrdsh @Piu_Europa @francorobertieu @bartolopietro1 @brandobenifei @partitopirata @carlopiana Ed io ti tolgo il saluto. Non hai capito un cazzo allora. Se devi proprio sbagliare, vota PD. Almeno non son venduti" (Tweet) (in Italian). Retrieved 19 January 2021 – via Twitter.
  16. ^ "Non c'e' piu' il GOP di una volta". www.youtube.com. 12 January 2020. Archived from the original on 20 December 2021.
  17. ^ Taleb, Nassim [@nntaleb] (24 December 2018). "@micheleboldrin Michele Boldrin è un ciarlatano ("No #skiningthegame BS vendor"). I suoi articoli sono praticamente un gioco del sistema. https://t.co/Yb4u2EUvme" (Tweet) (in Italian). Archived from the original on 11 November 2020. Retrieved 19 January 2021 – via Twitter.
  18. ^ Labini, Francesco Sylos (22 May 2016). "L'economia neoclassica: una pseudoscienza. Una discussione tra Sylos Labini e Boldrin". ROARS (in Italian). Retrieved 4 January 2021.
  19. ^ Bettazzi, Marco (6 September 2024). "L'economista youtuber Alberto Forchielli fonda il Movimento Drin Drin: "Tra un anno saremo un partito né di destra né di sinistra: di sopra"" [The Economist and YouTuber Alberto Forchielli Founds the Ring Ring Movement: “In a Year, We Will Be a Party, Neither Right nor Left—Above”]. la Repubblica (in Italian). Archived from the original on 6 September 2024. Retrieved 8 November 2024.
  20. ^ Sebastiani, Luca (6 September 2024). "Boldrin e Forchielli fondano il movimento Drin Drin, entro un anno il partito: "Al centro non c'è concorrenza, Renzi va nel M5s e Calenda è bollito"" [Boldrin and Forchielli Found the Ring Ring Movement, Party to Follow Within a Year: “No Competition in the Center—Renzi is Heading to M5S, and Calenda is Washed Up”]. Il Riformista (in Italian). Archived from the original on 7 November 2024. Retrieved 8 November 2024.
  21. ^ "Boldrin e Forchielli fanno sul serio" [Boldrin and Forchielli Are Serious About the Ring Ring Movement]. Pagella Politica (in Italian). 5 November 2024. Archived from the original on 7 November 2024. Retrieved 8 November 2024.
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