La tutela del risparmio nel pensiero e nell'azione del Governatore Baffi (The defence of savings: Governor Baffi’s belief and achievements)

Abstract

Ten years after his death and twenty after his resignation from Banca d’Italia governorship, Paolo Baffi’s ideas and achievements as regards the protection of savings and the fight against a high and volatile inflation in the turbulent 1970s are reviewed. Against the backdrop of the constitutional precepts in this field, the proposals to shorten maturities and to index bond coupons, first advanced in the well known address Baffi delivered at Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, were translated into Treasury decisions on public debt at his instigation. Moreover, in the concluding remarks he pronounced at the Banca d’Italia General Meeting of Shareholders between 1976 and 1979 there are many hints at problems and solutions that have become prominent in the 1980s and 1990s.

JEL Codes: B31, E58