Editors’ Introduction

In the scientific and civic activity of Luigi Einaudi, whose economic production is sampled in the first two volumes of this series, the political aspects played a central role. This third and final volume explores the close relation between economics, politics and legislation which characterized the work of a lifetime. As a press correspondent in the liberal era (1894–1922), he wrote numerous fundamental essays of a political nature, many of which are reprinted in this book. During the twenty-year fascist period (1923–1943), Einaudi’s articles frequently addressed political issues in connection with economic ones. Despite the limitations on freedom of speech to which he was subjected by the regime (including his forcible resignation from the largest Italian newspaper, the Corriere della Sera, and from his professorship at the Bocconi University in 1925, as well as the suppression of the journal La Riforma Sociale which he directed), one can perceive in his writings of the period, the affirmation of the value of liberty, interlaced with criticism, often scathing and not devoid of ironic overtones, directed against fascist economic policy. The foremost writings of Luigi Einaudi on political themes appeared above all in the subsequent — and most influential — period of his life, which began with the fall of Mussolini’s government in 1943 and the collapse of the regime. He felt it was his responsibility to openly take a position, even if risky, in order to contribute to resolve the complex political problems facing Italy.