ABSTRACT
The topic chosen for its centennial celebration by the Banca di Roma could hardly be more timely. Action is taking place on several fronts. In the United States, the Reagan administration appears to be earnestly considering plans to undo much of the regulatory legislation of the 1930s. In France, on the contrary, the new Socialist administration of President Mitterand is engaged on a program of carrying through the nationalization of important segments of the credit market, begun feebly in 1936, and carried out with great restraint in 1945 with the nationalization of the banques d'affaires. These had been spared from nationalization in 1946 by President de Gaulle in a sort of Passover (Kuisel, 1981, p. 207).
