Franco Modigliani

Born in Italy, he left Italy for the US in 1939 because of his Jewish background and antifascist views.

Modigliani, along with Merton Miller[?], formulated the important Modigliani-Miller[?] theorem in corporate finance[?]. This demonstrated that under certain assumptions, the value of a firm is not affected by whether it is financed by equity (selling shares) or debt (borrowing money).

He was also the originator of the life-cycle hypothesis[?], which attempts to explain the level of saving in the economy. Modigliani proposed that consumers would aim for a stable level of income throughout their lifetime, for example by saving during their working years and spending during their retirement.

External links

• Franco Modigliani autobiography (http://www.nobel.se/economics/laureates/1985/modigliani-autobio)

See also

• List of economists
• List of economics consultancies and think tanks