The economists and the press in Italy: the case of Luigi Einaudi

The present paper analyses Luigi Einaudi’s role as opinion maker in the early decades of the twentieth century, when he was the leading columnist on economic issues at the Corriere della Sera. It focuses on the scope and limits of his efforts to broaden the consensus among the Italian public opinion on the principles of free competition, fiscal restraint and monetary stability. To this end, it investigates Einaudi’s journalistic style, his following among the public, his influence on the political elite and his views concerning the role of the economist in society. Further sections analyse the main issues tackled by Einaudi in his articles in the Corriere before World War I and the work of propaganda he enacted during the war in order to convince the Italian households to reduce consumption and to subscribe Treasury bills. A final section deals with the “reconstruction programme” devised by Einaudi after the war, his efforts to promote this programme in the Corriere and his defeat with the beginning of the fascist regime in 1925. We conclude that Einaudi’s work as journalist, albeit very influential, is not immune from inconsistencies. As a matter of fact, his efforts to promote economic liberalism were bound to be frustrated - at least in the short run - by the myths spread by the socialists on the one hand and by the nationalists and fascists on the other