The rise and decline of the Bank of Italy’s autonomy between 1893 and 1936. A historical interpretation

The aim of this paper is to analyse the autonomy of central banks from a historical perspective, with reference to the founding and development of the Bank of Italy in the period between its inception (1893) and the passing of the Italian Banking Law of 1936. The issue of central bank’s autonomy from governments and budgetary policies has been investigated by several scholars, for whom the degree of autonomy is linked exclusively to factors connected to those wielding power or influence at the time, and those related to the contingent historical and economic situation. Few studies so far have investigated the causes of the evolution of the degree of autonomy of the central banks, considering this evolution as strictly linked with the process of central state autonomy. The authors aim to investigate the evolution of the Bank of Italy’s level of autonomy in light of Michael Mann’s thinking.