Luigi Einaudi and the Bocconi Years

To publish for the first time a selection of Luigi Einaudi’s lectures delivered at Bocconi University during the period 1904–1925 is not merely a contribution to our understanding of his thought, nor simply a way to mark the centenary of his forced departure from that teaching post in 1925, due to his opposition to the fascist regime. The aim is to make him present once again. For the pages reproduced here—about public expenditure—offer insights that remain strikingly relevant today. They provide suggestions for contemporary economic policy, both at the national and European levels. Among them is the question of defence spending, a topic now widely debated. He put forward the idea that the League of Nations could achieve financial autonomy by issuing international bonds — a concept that presaged the modern notion of Eurobonds.
This book is therefore addressed not only to scholars of Einaudi and of Public Finance, but also to those responsible for political decisions—within governments and parliaments—who may draw from his thinking guiding principles for their choices.