monopolies and of any attempts, by private firms, to restrict markets. however, in italy he saw the state itself as the main source of market restrictions : the dominating positions of many firms were, more often than not, the product of laws and regulations. in 1947, as a member of the constituent assembly of the new italian republic ( of which he was to become the first full president ), he proposed an anti - monopoly clause for the constitution : la legge non e strumento di formazione di monopoli economici ; ed ove questi esistano li sottopone a pubblico controllo a mezzo di amministrazione pubblica delegata o diretta. [ the law shall not be a means to form economic monopolies, and such monopolies as may exist shall be subjected to public control through delegated or direct public administration ] his proposal was rejected on flimsy arguments, and antitrust legislation eventually came, well after einaudi ’ s death. but the alliance between public bodies and private interests to carve out privileges has bedevilled italy to this day. he applied his convictions about the power of market forces to the banking sector. in a 1935 article that is partly included in the selection, he showed his distrust for the views of a fictitious character, the “ rationaliser ”, who wanted to regulate from above the banking industry all the way down to dictating what the number of banks should be. he also had little sympathy for the many restrictions on banks ’ activity ( on area, sector, type of credit ) which were not to disappear in italy until the 1990s. on banking supervision he favoured a flexible approach and disliked rigid administrative rules : “ if the regulation really regulates, it only prevents the good transactions and does not prohibit the bad ”, he wrote. this resonates with certain main themes in the evolution of supervisory activity in recent times. much impetus for market - oriented reforms in italy eventually came from european institutions. europe was, indeed, a recurring theme in his writings from very early days. he supported a european federation immediately after the first world war. from the columns of the corriere della sera he argued, under the pen - name “ junius ”, that the league of nations would be ineffective because it depended on the will of individual states, and advocated the creation of a federation of european nations. the articles went virtually unnoticed at the time. in the

respective roles that einaudi himself and donato menichella, the then director - general of the bank of italy, played in devising the stabilisation plan. whatever the details, it is clear that einaudi, as governor of the bank of italy first, then as budget minister and deputy prime minister, took prime responsibility. even if he had not had any policymaking role, luigi einaudi would be remembered as a communicator and educator. in fact, his very success as a policymaker owes much to his clear, effective way of speaking to the general public, at a time when this was very unusual. his frank and direct style of communication, his choice of explaining, in plain language, policy decisions in a special final chapter of the bank ’ s annual report, were at the time a significant advance towards greater accountability of monetary policy. sixty years ago einaudi gave his last speech as the governor of the bank of italy. in the new italian democracy it was under his leadership that the bank of italy, already a well - respected institution, started shaping its special role in italy, unique among central banks, a role upheld by all of einaudi ’ s successors : that of a trusted, independent advisor to parliament, the government and the public opinion.