fabrizio saccomanni : managing international financial stability edited text of remarks by mr fabrizio saccomanni, director general of the bank of italy, at a meeting at the peterson institute for international economics, washington dc, 11 december 2008. * * * i am delighted to be here at the peterson institute to present my views on international financial instability before such a distinguished audience of eminent scholars and officials, among which i am fortunate to count many old friends. this is my first visit to the institute since i was invited to join its advisory committee and i would like to express my gratitude to fred bergsten for the invitation. i am honoured to participate in this important body of the institute and i look forward to contributing to its activity in the promotion of policy – oriented research in the field of international economics. instability in the age of globalization international financial instability is a subject that has fascinated and intrigued me since when i was a young economist at the imf and witnessed with considerable anxiety the collapse of the bretton woods system on august 15, 1971. the ensuing decade of instability was mostly attributable to the shock of the downward floating of the dollar and the resulting two oilshocks of 1974 and 1979. after some unsuccessful attempts to rebuild bretton woods, the negotiations for the reform of the international monetary system ended in 1976 with the legalization of freely floating exchange rates and that seemed sufficient to fix the problem. a tired us treasury secretary, william simon, commented : “ all is well that ends ”. at the beginning of the 1980s, following the process of liberalization, deregulation and privatisation set in motion by margaret thatcher and ronald reagan, it was widely expected that full international capital mobility would interact with floating exchange rates to ensure adjustment of balance of payments disequilibria and a stable financial environment. instead, these new conditions paved the way for the emergence of a global financial system in which financial innovation and the ict revolution combined to produce an extraordinary expansion of financial sectors and markets compared with the real sector in both industrialized and emerging countries. the seeds of instability were thus planted on fertile soil. indeed since the 1980s financial disturbances have occurred with increased frequency and intensity and have entailed major international repercussions. i will not review here the long list of debt crises, currency misalignments, illiquidity in credit markets, asset price bubbles, that have characterized the age of globalization, a subject to which i have devoted considerable attention

ca'foscari university of venice department of economics in praise of popularization lectio magistralis by the senior deputy governor of the bank of italy and president of the italian insurance supervisory authority ( ivass ) salvatore rossi venice, 5 october 2018 introduction this lecture stems from a reflection on the way in which we − all of us − form our opinions and make decisions. the question has many aspects, but here we will deal with one in particular : the information that we consume and the sources from which we gather it. this is a crucial aspect. opinions and decisions are, of course, shaped by cognitive processes and inspired by religious or political persuasions, but the information that we use is their main sustenance. combined with our pre - conceptions, they lead us to think one thing or another, and to decide accordingly. and yet, at this historical juncture, western democracies appear to have a problem regarding the quality of the information that is made available to the public. a lot of this information, it is said, is false or misleading, either through ignorance, superficiality or malice on the part of those who produce it. the fake news phenomenon is part of this debate. of course, italy is not exempt from this problem. on the contrary, it is one of its main laboratories. the thesis of this lecture is that nowadays serious manufacturers of information, and scholars in particular, have what has become an impelling and absolute duty to disseminate their knowledge. this should be their main concern. in all fields. before it is too late. especially here in italy. especially when it comes to economics. the high priests of knowledge versus democracy fantastical stories and tall tales have always circulated widely among human beings, at all times and in all places. a defining feature of the modern era was the emergence and diffusion of galilean science, according to which all claims must be subjected to careful empirical scrutiny and there are no absolute dogmas ; put simply, we should not believe in fairy tales. modern science, regardless of whether it is engaged in sending a rocket to the moon or in improving economic welfare, can sometimes be hesitant and imprecise, but it is the best that humanity can offer to draw closer to natural truths. it feeds on skills and talents, it seeks first and foremost to convince the rest of the scientific community of the validity of its findings ( even at a long remove ), it assigns no role to religions, political id