Carlo M. Cipolla

(1922 - 2000)

Born in Pavia, Italy, the economic historian Carlo M. Cipolla is best known for writing the best-selling essay The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity. “The first basic law of human stupidity,” he wrote, “asserts without ambiguity that: always and inevitably everyone underestimates the number of stupid individuals in circulation. At first, the statement sounds trivial, vague, and horribly ungenerous. Closer scrutiny will however reveal its realistic veracity.”