Remembering the legacy of Vilfredo Pareto
On Friday 24 November, students and professors embarked on a wonderful journey: discovering or rediscovering Vilfredo Federico Damaso Pareto. After a brief 20 minutes bus ride, the Department of International Economics arrived in Céligny, an enclave of the canton of Geneva within the canton of Vaud. This is where Vilfredo Pareto, the father of the fundamental economic concept of optimality and of indifference curves, lived for the last part of his life and where he is buried.
In the cemetery, in front of Pareto's tomb, the Head of Department, Jean-Louis Arcand, gave a brief speech about Pareto’s remarkable work and life, highlighting his contributions to economics and sociology. We were reminded of what it means to be a scientist by one of Pareto's most memorable quotes: ‘‘Give me a fruitful error any time, full of seeds, bursting with its own corrections. You can keep your sterile truth for yourself.” In honor of Pareto, the department's Research Seminar Series will henceforth bear Pareto’s name.
Give me a fruitful error any time, full of seeds, bursting with its own corrections. You can keep your sterile truth for yourself.
The department then collectively laid flowers on Pareto's gravestone and, following a quick visit to a nearby cemetery where the Welsh actor Richard Burton, and his barman, are also buried, adjourned to the local auberge where they were joined by the mayor of Céligny.
Most students, while aware of the importance of Pareto's work to the profession, had been unaware that he was buried so close to the Institute, and within the Canton of Geneva.
A brief group excursion from Geneva was thus (hopefully) transformed into a significant journey of intellectual discovery or rediscovery, both of Vilfredo Pareto, and of our peers.
Dorina Dobre
Master Candidate in Development Studies
Web-editor and coordinator for the Academic Departments
24.11.2017
