HAS the IMF of EG's always been the same?

Several properties of elliptical galaxies are examined in the light of the Larson galactic wind model and the classical recipes for the star formation rate and initial mass function. The suggestion is advanced that several points of disagreement between theory and observational data could be alleviated if not removed by adopting an initial mass function whose typical mass scale at early galactic epochs was higher than the present-day estimate for the Solar Vicinity. Galaxy models with this type of initial mass function are finally used to study the problem of the iron and gas content in the intra-cluster medium.