Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa was a major figure in the creation of the euro; he died just before Christmas.
Lorenzo Bini-Smaghi provides a very interesting overview of his career in this speech.
Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa was a major figure in the creation of the euro; he died just before Christmas.
Lorenzo Bini-Smaghi provides a very interesting overview of his career in this speech.
One reply on “A Tribute to Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa”
Our new best friend (hat-tip to Karl Whelan) has delivered a fitting tribute to a giant of modern Europe. It is regrettable that his distinguished legacy is being clouded by the travails of the Eurozone whose establishment he was instrumental in bringing about. It is inevitable, but no criticism of him, that standing on the shoulders of a giant, we can see more clearly and further than he. It would be churlish to criticise him or his peers for failing to recognise that the fiscal discipline which the peripherals (escaping from politcial, economic and cultural shackles) were required to pursue when joining the Euro was beyond their ken and capability. Or to criticise him, despite his grasp of institutional economics – unlike so many economists, for failing to recognise that instiitutions that impact on governance must be grounded on democratic legitimacy and support.
But we do now; and we would disgrace his honourable legacy if we were to retreat from what has been achieved and fail to address these challenges.