Umberto Ricci

Ricci was born in Chieti on 20 February 1879.[1] He obtained a diploma from the Ferdinando Galiani technical-commercial institute in Chieti.[2] Then he graduated from the Higher School of Commerce in Venice (forerunner of the Ca' Foscari University) with a degree in political economy, finance and statistics.[2] His fields of speciality were agricultural economics and general equilibrium analysis.[3]

Following his graduation Ricci worked at the Ministry of Agriculture between 1907 and 1910.[2] Then he joined the International Institute of Agriculture based in Rome and headed its statistics department from 1910.[1] He published his first scholarly article in 1904 in the Journal of Economists.[2] He was the professor of statistics at the universities of Parma (1915–1918) and Pisa (1919–1921) and professor of economics at universities of Macerata (1912), Bologna (1922–1924) and Rome (1924–1928).[2][4] Following World War I Ricci was named as a member of the committee of technical experts, called the “commission for the revision of balances and the reduction of public expenditures”.[5] In addition to his academic activities, Ricci was also an active politician and became a member of the Liberal Party.[1] Ricci published articles in La Voce, L'Unità and La Rivoluzione Liberale.[2]

Ricci was an ally and advisor of Alberto de Stefani, minister of finance in the cabinet of Benito Mussolini.[5] In March 1928 he was removed from his teaching post at the Italian universities due to his criticism of fascist economic policies.[4][5] Then he left Italy and taught economics and statistics at Cairo University, Egypt, from October 1929 to 1940.[1][3] In September 1942 he began to teach at Istanbul University, Turkey.[3] There he stayed until 30 October 1945 when he returned to Italy.[1] He was appointed minister of education in the Bonomi cabinet, replacing Vincenzo Arangio-Ruiz in the post.[2]

After serving as the minister of education for a brief period Ricci returned to Cairo where he died of heart attack on 3 January 1946.[1][2] He was about to leave Egypt for Italy to resume his post at the Sapienza University of Rome.[3]