The economist of two worlds

PERENNIALLY TORN BETWEEN AMERICAN AND ITALIAN CULTURE, ALBERTO ALESINA OFTEN DISCUSSED THE CHARACTERISTICS OF EACH. AS HIGHLIGHTS ANDREA ICHINO, A COLLEAGUE AND FRIEND, WHO WROTE L'ITALIA FATTA IN CASA' WITH HIM ON THESE ISSUES, REFLECTING ON THE ROLE OF FAMILIES IN THE TWO ECONOMIES. HERE IS THE ECONOMIST'S RECOLLECTION AND AN EXCERPT FROM THE CONCLUSIONS OF THEIR BOOK

Alberto was always very fond of Italy, but at the same time he perfectly integrated into the United States. What is good and bad in the ways of living, interacting and working in these two countries always represented a source of inner turmoil for Alberto as well as for many others who, like him, have studied at American universities. Some went on to stay there, others to return.
 
Alberto and I began to discuss this turmoil in the very first days when he arrived at Harvard for his doctorate, housed in the dorm (a bit depressing) he had booked, waiting to find a better accommodation. I was two years younger than him, and had spent the summer teaching mountaineering in a Summer Camp for American boys. In the first days of September, I had gone to Cambridge to see how he was settling in and evaluate whether to follow in his footsteps. We spent a week together, both fascinated by what an American university offered (that was when I was convinced to follow in his footsteps and go to MIT), but also reflecting on my summer experience with American boys "abandoned" by their families during their school holidays, or on the surprising ease with which American students leave home after high school to study at the best universities they can find, while we had not strayed from our parents.
 
After many years of chatting about these issues, we finally decided to try to tell about our discussions in a book, "L'Italia fatta in casa" (Mondadori, 2009). In this book we tried to measure how much higher the Italian GDP would be (compared to that of the USA, Norway and Spain) if it included the value of what Italian families produce outside the market and inside their homes. The answer is: by a lot. The gap to the world's leading economic power, for example, would be halved. But this considerable family production involves a heavy counterpart, in terms of consequences that are not always desirable for relations between women and men, for the creation of social capital, for the educational system, for the labor market and for the welfare state.

I have a wonderful memory of the time spent with Alberto working on this book, which sums up our dialogue over many years of friendship. I remember in particular how we had fun (but with some underlying distress) writing the conclusions that I report below. Instead of dryly summarizing the costs and benefits of the Italian family analyzed in the book, we decided to describe them through the reflections of two mothers, one Italian and the other American, imagined in their homes before dinner on a September evening.  As we wrote then, "We wish we could say ... : any reference to people who really exist is purely coincidental. But these imaginary stories are in fact a collage of family experiences that we personally observe here and across the ocean in numerous "real families" (including our own) during the years lived in Italy and the United States."

Thank you, Alberto, for the time spent together, time never wasted whether it was sport, fun or work.

by Andrea Ichino, Professor of Economics at the European University Institute in Fiesole
 

One September evening in an Italian town I’ve been running around all day doing hundreds of things and I feel like I’ve achieved nothing! What time is it? It’s already past seven... it will be dinner time in half an hour. At least I’ve got that ready, even a pear and jam tart to celebrate Giovanna’s last exam. So much effort for this last exam! If she’d gone to Turin to do the engineering course that she really liked, she might have finished earlier, without having to repeat years. But where would we have found the money to keep her up there? I should have got a degree and worked more so I could have been branch manager, instead of making do with staying at the counter so I could look after the kids and the house in the afternoon. My jams are good though, everyone says so, and they make people happy. So what’s better, jams or 1000 Euros more a month? Who knows. Let’s hope Giovanna doesn’t give up like I did, now that she's only got her thesis to do. She’s better off than Paolo anyway. If he carries on sleeping until noon, it will take him ten years to finish university, and he’s only in the first year now. And, Communication Science... Will that get him a job when he’s finished? Luckily, Uncle Riccardo will lend him a hand finding a job at a newspaper or at a publishing company: when Riccardo needed it, we helped him and he’ll return the favor now. He’ll have to work his way up starting on temporary contracts, like other young people today, but we’ll help him until he’s settled. Luckily there are no risks with my job or Mario’s. The worst that can happen is they make us retire a bit early. It so lovely to have Paolo around (I wonder if he’ll be home for dinner this evening?) and the house would be empty without him (well, sometimes it’s a little too full, with his friends and parties... and it’s always left to me to clean up), but he needs to realize that we can’t keep him forever, even though we can manage for now. The girl from London that he met this summer in Greece went to study in Scotland after her final school exams and her parents rented out her room: why didn’t we think about that too? I know why: how can you have a stranger in your home, that you have to share your kitchen and bathroom with? You’d have to let them have keys too: how do the British trust people like that? Oh! Here's Mario back home, and I haven’t set the table yet. “Giovanna, can you set the table?” Here she goes, grumbling because I always ask her and not Paolo. She may be right. It was Paolo, when he was four, who asked us why it was always Dad who drove when Mom and Dad were in the car together, although Mom always drove no problem when Dad wasn’t around. Dad isn’t around, really, much: he goes out at 7.30 and comes back tired out at 8.00 pm (and that's early). He told me today that he would go and do the shopping on the way home from work, but then (as per usual): ring, ring, “Sorry... The meeting went on longer than I thought, I won’t make it, can you go?”. Of course, I can go, but that’s how he’s a manager and I’m still at level one: I thank my lucky stars there are automatic seniority raises and production bonuses for everyone. To be honest, I should get a bonus for my cake production, not for what I do in the bank. If Mario was at home more, he could help me with Giovanna and Paolo. It takes two to make children: why is it only mothers take care of them? It's fine when they are tiny and still breastfeeding. But then they need their father around too! I am happy for Mario, though, still with a job he likes and that satisfies him at 50 years old. My poor sister Adele, with Fernando already retired from the post office at 55. She doesn’t know what she can get him to do! At least she hadn’t started working when she got married, and she can keep him company, even though he does prefer going to the coffee shop... We need to find him some jobs to do at home, since he is good with wood. I could ask him to widen the bookcases in the living room and repair the garden chairs. I’m sure he’d be willing to do it to give himself something to do. My cousin in Empoli, Federico, worked as a volunteer for the local ambulances when he retired. That kind of initiative just doesn’t exist in the South: it's each family for themselves. So there’s an idea: Fernando could start a family vegetable garden. We all live close to one another, fortunately, and we can all help each other. That's enough day-dreaming, so let's get a move on. I’ve got to make the fish soup for Grandma's eightieth birthday after dinner. It’s great she can live with us now that she can no longer live alone and needs more help. Carers are such a great invention. It's hard, especially for me, but it makes everyone happy too. There will be twenty-six of us at dinner on Saturday evening. Thank goodness the weather is still nice and we can eat outside: we are always criticizing our country, but from the few times I have traveled abroad, I don’t think I have seen anything better. There will be four generations around the table with Elisabetta’s new baby. Who knows if she will go back to work after her pregnancy: it would a shame after working so hard at university. Let's hope that Adele can give her a hand. Here we go again: what would we do without us mothers? It's hard to make ends meet with just one wage at home, but nobody ever considers what we do. Was it worth it making so many sacrifices for the good of the family?

One September evening in an American town “Hello! Is there anyone home?” nobody, as usual. What day is it today? Thursday: so Colin is at baseball practice and gets back at six. Luckily there is some peanut butter and jelly in the fridge, and some sliced bread. When he comes home, all he’ll want to do it lie down in front of the TV and eat something alone. I sometimes wonder how he manages to do so much sport and study with such good grades. He must be training for when he leaves home and will only have himself to rely on. John should be back at seven, today. The easiest thing to do is order a takeaway from the Chinese on the corner, so we can all eat when we want to. I really need to finish the last quarter investment report. I need to email it to head office by tomorrow. I’m glad they tasked me with writing it. That probably means I’m getting a promotion. This year certainly hasn’t been easy: work has given me so much satisfaction, as well as the possibility of a big salary increase, but the family has suffered for it. I can’t even remember the last time we all ate together. Oh yes, it was November last year for Thanksgiving lunch. At least on that day nobody works in the States and we can relax without feeling guilty. Talking of feeling guilty, we still haven't called someone to fix the washing machine. We’ll run out of clothes soon unless somebody thinks about it. We can hardly get in the bathroom as it is because there is so much dirty laundry! I can't complain if John and the kids think more about separate garbage collection than cleaning the house, but they need to help me more, unless they want to see me dead. He did take Jessica to visit the colleges though and I got out of it. I don’t know how he managed to take those three days in February, but it was so good that Jessica could take the time to choose the best one for her, with her father's advice. She did really well to get such a high score in her entry tests: we expected her to get entry letters from good universities, but we didn’t think she would get so many from the top ten. It's a good thing we have saved up enough to fund her first four years and I’m sure she will get a scholarship for her PhD. Oh, just let me check the email before I start work, to see whether she’s written to us. We still don’t know how her first week at Stanford has gone! Will she have settled in on campus? Well, I managed to, why wouldn’t she manage it too? There will be hundreds of people willing to help her. It's not as if she’s in the jungle, and she can manage without her family, at last. I wonder whether she’ll come back for Thanksgiving? This year, I want to invite my brother Fred and Johanna from Florida. Poor Fred: he lost his job due to the recession and now he’s looking for a new job. Unfortunately, there won’t be much for him in Miami with his skills. The only interesting possibilities for him are in Michigan, but that’s a long way to go. Johanna would have to change jobs too. And they would lose money selling their home during a drop in the housing market. But it would cost less to buy another if they decide to move. They are thinking about it based on where the best schools are for Nick and Ilana. If it all goes well, they would leave around the end of November, and they could stop off here for Thanksgiving. If they come, though, John will need to repair the dining room chairs. We never eat round the table and they have been wobbly for ages. I wish John would do more around the house rather than fixing the neighborhood’s basketball hoops! But maybe he’s right: we can buy new chairs. They might not be Grandma's, but they would be more modern and practical. The last time we saw Fred and Johanna must have been before Grandma went into the rest home, five years ago. Goodness, how long is it since we visited Gandma? Three months? Well, I could go on Sunday to ask her for the apple, plum and breadcrumb stuffing that she used to make for Thanksgiving. I have totally forgotten it... But I wouldn’t have time to cook anyway. I’ll ask her for the recipe, she’ll like that, but I’ll buy the turkey with a nice ready-mixed stuffing from the supermarket. The one you buy isn't so bad. Supermarkets work wonders these days, even though they do make you pay for it. We have enough money, though, luckily, with the two of us working so much. The real problem is finding the time to enjoy it and spend it. When was the last time I had a full week's vacation? I’d best not think about it: I need to call the takeaway then get started on my work.

by Alberto Alesina and Andrea Ichino, L'Italia fatta in casa (Mondadori, 2009)