Pigou, Del Vecchio and Sraffa: The 1955 International ‘Antonio Feltrinelli’ Prize for the Economic and Social Sciences

In 1955 the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei awarded the inagural Internazionale “Antonio Feltrinelli” Premio per le Scienze Economiche e Sociali to Arthur Cecil Pigou. This paper provides some context to the episode and considers the establishment of the prize; the membership of the 1955 selection committee; the activities of this committee, especially those of its secretary, Gustavo Del Vecchio. Correspondence between A. C. Pigou, Piero Sraffa and Del Vecchio pertaining to this prize is also examined. The most significant findings reported in this paper concern the discovery of Del Vecchio’s active role in supporting the nomination of Pigou for this prize; as well as Sraffa’s contention that Pigou had ‘never been honoured in proportion to his merits’ and his characterisation of the decision to award the International Antonio Feltrinelli Prize to Pigou as a ‘great act of justice’.