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We investigate secular changes in the distribution of personal expenditure in Italy. To this end we present a new data set, consisting of 4,370 family-level budgets scattered over the years 1881–1961. Our methodology is innovative for this kind of study. Italy's secular trend proves to have been egalitarian, and to have accelerated in periods of fast output growth. Sectoral, residential, and demographic changes associated with “modern economic growth” account for a minor part of the observed changes in expenditure distribution, suggesting that other factors, such as wage differentials, play a dominant role in explaining the dynamics of inequality.

On 27-29 June 2005, the BIS held its Fourth Annual Research Conference on "Past and Future of Central Bank Cooperation". This event brought together some 80 senior officials from central banks, academic institutions and the private sector to exchange views on this topic (see the programme attached). This paper was presented at the conference. The conference was part of the BIS 75th Anniversary programme. The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not those of the BIS v

We investigate the origins and growth of the Financial Stability Mandate (FSM) to examine why bank supervisors, inside and outside of central banks succeeded or failed to meet their FSM. Three issues inform this study: (1) what drives changes in the FSM, (2) whether supervision should be conducted within the central bank or in independent agencies and (3) whether supervision should be rules-or discretion/principles-based. As histories of bank supervision are few, we focus on the history of six countries where there is sufficient information, three in Europe (England, France, and Italy) and three in the New World (U.S., Canada, and Colombia) to highlight the essential developments in the FSM. While there was a common evolutionary path, the development of FSM in each individual country was determined by how quickly each adapted to changes in the technology of the means of payment and their political economy, including their disposition towards competitive markets and openness to the world economy.

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Examines the evolution of the Italian banking industry, with particular reference to the behaviour of the mixed (universal) banks, and to the relief operations that culminated in extensive state involvement in industry. The process began with the banking crisis of 1921–22, when the State used the Bank of Italy to rescue both—a major bank and a large industrial concern. In the 1920s, the banks acquired industrial stocks on a massive scale, and many ended with risky and illiquid portfolios. When industrial demand collapsed in 1931, there was the potential for a major banking crisis, and this was only averted by substantial secret loans and last‐resort credits to the banks from the State and the Bank of Italy. State ownership of the industrial concerns was formally recognized by the creation in 1933 of IRI (Istituto per la Ricostruzione Industriale), and the banking system was reorganized under the Banking Act of 1936.