ABSTRACT
Economist A central banker with political ambitions, Carli was governor of the Banco d’Italia from 1960 to 1975, thus holding strategic office during both the happiest period of the economic miracle and the worst years of high inflation and increasing unemployment. A figure of high international standing, Carli was managing director of the European Payment Union during the 1950s and later played a major role in the G-10 Group, aimed at fostering international monetary cooperation among the main Western countries. Both a lucid analyst of the weaknesses of Italian capitalism and a firm supporter of the market economy, he was keen to reform the Italian financial system and to reshape it according to the Anglo-Saxon market-oriented model. Paradoxically, however, he ended up leaving his successors an extremely rigid banking system, mainly based on bureaucratic command and market segmentation. After leaving the Bank of Italy, he became chairman of Confindustria (the employers’ association) in 1976-80, was elected as a DC senator in 1983 and crowned his outstanding career as Minister of the Treasury in 1989-92.
