Italy: Tributes to economist

AN ECONOMIST who created a new word in Italian - "bamboccioni" or "mummies boys" - has died following a heart attack during a dinner party.

Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa, 70, uttered the word during a parliamentary committee meeting on government plans for tax relief, saying it would help thirty-somethings still living at home with their parents to move out.

He collapsed on Saturday night as he hosted a Christmas party for 100 friends at the Palazzo Sacchetti in central Rome and an ambulance rushed him to hospital but he was declared dead on arrival.

Mr Padoa-Schioppa was one of the founding fathers of the euro and a member of the European Central bank's first executive board. He also served as minister of the economy under former prime minister Romano Prodi.

Yesterday Mr Prodi said he was "shocked and saddened" at the death of Mr Padoa-Schioppa, who was a "dear friend".