ABSTRACT
The early writings: money and banking Piero Sraffa was born in Turin on 5 August 1898. His father, Angelo Sraffa, was a well-known professor of commercial law and subsequently – for many years – dean of the Bocconi University in Milan. His father’s career implied moving from one university to another; thus the young Sraffa began elementary school in Parma, to continue his education in Milan and Turin. Here he attended the secondary school, specialised in classical studies and went on to enrol in the faculty of Law. His attendance was by no means assiduous (in particular he shunned the lectures of Achille Loria (18571943), holder of the chair in political economy, who inspired him with little respect or liking). In fact, he spent 1917-20 doing his military service, and at the end of the war was assigned to the secretariat of the ‘Royal Commission for the Investigation of Violations of Human Rights Committed by the Enemy’, which concluded with the seven volumes of reports published between late 1919 and early 1921. He was thus able to take his exams in uniform, a condition which used to gain the favourable attention of the examiners. In November he graduated with a thesis on Monetary Inflation in Italy during and after the War. The supervisor of the thesis was Luigi Einaudi (1874-1961), a liberal senator since 1919 who was to become president of the Italian Republic; Sraffa remained on friendly terms with him for
the rest of his life. However, the subject seems to have been suggested by Attilio Cabiati (1872-1950), who was professor of economics at Genoa at the time, and a friend of his father.1
