Corrado Gini
Encyclopedia
Corrado Gini was an Italian statistician
, demographer
and sociologist
who developed the Gini coefficient
, a measure of the income
inequality in a society
. Gini was also a leading fascist
theorist and ideologue who wrote The Scientific Basis of Fascism in 1927. Gini was a proponent of the concept of organicism
and applied it to nations.
, into an old landed family. He entered the Faculty of Law at the University of Bologna
, where in addition to law he studied mathematics
, economics
, and biology
. His subsequent scientific work ran in two directions: towards the social sciences and towards statistics. His interests ranged well beyond the formal aspects of statistics—to the laws that govern biological and social phenomena.
His first published work was, Il sesso dal punto di vista statistico (1908). This work is a thorough review of the natal sex ratio, looking at past theories and at how new hypothesis fit the statistical data. In particular, it presents evidence that the tendency to produce one or the other sex of child is, to some extent, heritable.
In 1910, he acceded to the Chair of Statistics in the University of Cagliari
and then at Padua
in 1913.
He founded the statistical journal Metron in 1920, directing it until his death. The journal never accepted articles that did not have practical applications.
He became a professor at the University of Rome in 1925. At the University, he founded a lecture course on sociology
, maintaining it until his retirement. He also set up the School of Statistics in 1928, and, in 1936, the Faculty of Statistical, Demographic and Actuarial Sciences.
In 1929, Gini founded the Italian Committee for the Study of Population Problems (Comitato italiano per lo studio dei problemi della popolazione) which, two years later, organised the first Population Congress in Rome.
In 1926, he was appointed President of the Central Institute of Statistics in Rome. This he organised as a single centre for Italian statistical services. He resigned in 1932 in protest at interference in his work by the fascist state.
Corrado Gini died in the early hours of March 13, 1965.
and saw nations as organic in nature. Gini shared the view held by Oswald Spengler
that populations go through a cycle of birth, growth, and decay. Gini claimed that nations at a primitive level have a high birth rate
, but, as they evolve, the upper classes
birth rate drops while the lower class birth rate, while higher, will inevitably deplete as their stronger members emigrate, die in war, or enter into the upper classes. If a nation continues on this path without resistance, Gini claimed the nation would enter a final decadent
stage where the nation would degenerate as noted by decreasing birth rate, decreasing cultural output, and the lack of imperial
conquest. At this point, the decadent nation with its aging population can be overrun by a more youthful and vigorous nation. Gini's organicist theories of nations and natality are believed to have influenced policies of Italian Fascism
.
Statistician
A statistician is someone who works with theoretical or applied statistics. The profession exists in both the private and public sectors. The core of that work is to measure, interpret, and describe the world and human activity patterns within it...
, demographer
Demography
Demography is the statistical study of human population. It can be a very general science that can be applied to any kind of dynamic human population, that is, one that changes over time or space...
and sociologist
Sociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
who developed the Gini coefficient
Gini coefficient
The Gini coefficient is a measure of statistical dispersion developed by the Italian statistician and sociologist Corrado Gini and published in his 1912 paper "Variability and Mutability" ....
, a measure of the income
Income
Income is the consumption and savings opportunity gained by an entity within a specified time frame, which is generally expressed in monetary terms. However, for households and individuals, "income is the sum of all the wages, salaries, profits, interests payments, rents and other forms of earnings...
inequality in a society
Society
A society, or a human society, is a group of people related to each other through persistent relations, or a large social grouping sharing the same geographical or virtual territory, subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations...
. Gini was also a leading fascist
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
theorist and ideologue who wrote The Scientific Basis of Fascism in 1927. Gini was a proponent of the concept of organicism
Organicism
Organicism is a philosophical orientation that asserts that reality is best understood as an organic whole. By definition it is close to holism. Plato, Hobbes or Constantin Brunner are examples of such philosophical thought....
and applied it to nations.
Life
Gini was born on May 23, 1884, in Motta di Livenza, near TrevisoTreviso
Treviso is a city and comune in Veneto, northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Treviso and the municipality has 82,854 inhabitants : some 3,000 live within the Venetian walls or in the historical and monumental center, some 80,000 live in the urban center proper, while the city...
, into an old landed family. He entered the Faculty of Law at the University of Bologna
University of Bologna
The Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna is the oldest continually operating university in the world, the word 'universitas' being first used by this institution at its foundation. The true date of its founding is uncertain, but believed by most accounts to have been 1088...
, where in addition to law he studied mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
, economics
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
, and biology
Biology
Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...
. His subsequent scientific work ran in two directions: towards the social sciences and towards statistics. His interests ranged well beyond the formal aspects of statistics—to the laws that govern biological and social phenomena.
His first published work was, Il sesso dal punto di vista statistico (1908). This work is a thorough review of the natal sex ratio, looking at past theories and at how new hypothesis fit the statistical data. In particular, it presents evidence that the tendency to produce one or the other sex of child is, to some extent, heritable.
In 1910, he acceded to the Chair of Statistics in the University of Cagliari
University of Cagliari
The University of Cagliari is a university located in Cagliari, Italy. It was founded in 1620 and is organized in 11 Faculties.-History:The Studium Generalis Kalaritanum was founded in 1606 along the lines of the old Spanish Universities of Salamanca, Valladolid and Lérida...
and then at Padua
University of Padua
The University of Padua is a premier Italian university located in the city of Padua, Italy. The University of Padua was founded in 1222 as a school of law and was one of the most prominent universities in early modern Europe. It is among the earliest universities of the world and the second...
in 1913.
He founded the statistical journal Metron in 1920, directing it until his death. The journal never accepted articles that did not have practical applications.
He became a professor at the University of Rome in 1925. At the University, he founded a lecture course on sociology
Sociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
, maintaining it until his retirement. He also set up the School of Statistics in 1928, and, in 1936, the Faculty of Statistical, Demographic and Actuarial Sciences.
In 1929, Gini founded the Italian Committee for the Study of Population Problems (Comitato italiano per lo studio dei problemi della popolazione) which, two years later, organised the first Population Congress in Rome.
In 1926, he was appointed President of the Central Institute of Statistics in Rome. This he organised as a single centre for Italian statistical services. He resigned in 1932 in protest at interference in his work by the fascist state.
Corrado Gini died in the early hours of March 13, 1965.
Organicism and nations
Gini was a proponent of organicismOrganicism
Organicism is a philosophical orientation that asserts that reality is best understood as an organic whole. By definition it is close to holism. Plato, Hobbes or Constantin Brunner are examples of such philosophical thought....
and saw nations as organic in nature. Gini shared the view held by Oswald Spengler
Oswald Spengler
Oswald Manuel Arnold Gottfried Spengler was a German historian and philosopher whose interests also included mathematics, science, and art. He is best known for his book The Decline of the West , published in 1918, which puts forth a cyclical theory of the rise and decline of civilizations...
that populations go through a cycle of birth, growth, and decay. Gini claimed that nations at a primitive level have a high birth rate
Birth rate
Crude birth rate is the nativity or childbirths per 1,000 people per year . Another word used interchangeably with "birth rate" is "natality". When the crude birth rate is subtracted from the crude death rate, it reveals the rate of natural increase...
, but, as they evolve, the upper classes
Upper class
In social science, the "upper class" is the group of people at the top of a social hierarchy. Members of an upper class may have great power over the allocation of resources and governmental policy in their area.- Historical meaning :...
birth rate drops while the lower class birth rate, while higher, will inevitably deplete as their stronger members emigrate, die in war, or enter into the upper classes. If a nation continues on this path without resistance, Gini claimed the nation would enter a final decadent
Decadence
Decadence can refer to a personal trait, or to the state of a society . Used to describe a person's lifestyle. Concise Oxford Dictionary: "a luxurious self-indulgence"...
stage where the nation would degenerate as noted by decreasing birth rate, decreasing cultural output, and the lack of imperial
Imperialism
Imperialism, as defined by Dictionary of Human Geography, is "the creation and/or maintenance of an unequal economic, cultural, and territorial relationships, usually between states and often in the form of an empire, based on domination and subordination." The imperialism of the last 500 years,...
conquest. At this point, the decadent nation with its aging population can be overrun by a more youthful and vigorous nation. Gini's organicist theories of nations and natality are believed to have influenced policies of Italian Fascism
Italian Fascism
Italian Fascism also known as Fascism with a capital "F" refers to the original fascist ideology in Italy. This ideology is associated with the National Fascist Party which under Benito Mussolini ruled the Kingdom of Italy from 1922 until 1943, the Republican Fascist Party which ruled the Italian...
.
Later career
- In 1933 Gini was elected vice president of the International Sociological Institute.
- In 1934 - president of the Italian GeneticsGeneticsGenetics , a discipline of biology, is the science of genes, heredity, and variation in living organisms....
and EugenicsEugenicsEugenics is the "applied science or the bio-social movement which advocates the use of practices aimed at improving the genetic composition of a population", usually referring to human populations. The origins of the concept of eugenics began with certain interpretations of Mendelian inheritance,...
Society. - In 1935 - president of the International Federation of Eugenics Societies in Latin-language Countries.
- In 1937 - president of the Italian Sociological Society.
- In 1941 - president of the Italian Statistical Society.
- In 1957 he received the Gold Medal for outstanding service to the Italian School.
- In 1962 he was elected National Member of the Accademia dei LinceiAccademia dei LinceiThe Accademia dei Lincei, , is an Italian science academy, located at the Palazzo Corsini on the Via della Lungara in Rome, Italy....
.
Honours
The following honorary degrees were conferred upon him:- Economics by the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan (1932),
- Sociology by the University of Geneva (1934),
- Sciences by Harvard University (1936),
- Social Sciences by the University of Cordoba, Argentine (1963).
Some publications
- Il sesso dal punto di vista statistica: le leggi della produzione dei sessi (1908)
- Sulla misura della concentrazione e della variabilità dei caratteri (1914)
- Quelques considérations au sujet de la construction des nombres indices des prix et des questions analogues (1924)
- Memorie di metodologia statistica. Vol.1: Variabilità e Concentrazione (1955)
- Memorie di metodologia statistica. Vol.2: Transvariazione (1960)
- The Scientific Basis of Fascism Political Science Quarterly, Vol. 42, No. 1 (Mar., 1927), pp. 99–115 (article consists of 17 pages) At JSTOR
External links
- Biography Of Corrado Gini at the Metron, the statistics journal he founded.
- Paper on "Corrado Gini and Italian Statistics under Fascism" by Giovanni Favero June 2002
- A. Forcina and G. M. Giorgi "Early Gini’s Contributions to Inequality Measurement and Statistical Inference." JEHPS mars 2005
- Another photograph
