Editorial: Paolo Sylos Labini (1920-2005)

The article introduces to the new issue of the Review, which roughly corresponds with the tenth anniversary of the passing away of Paolo Sylos Labini (PSL). As explained by Roncaglia (2008), the very name of the PSL Quarterly Review is dedicated to the Italian economist, due among other things to the long run relation between PSL and the old series of this journal. The paper discusses PSL’s contributions in the Banca Nazionale del Lavoro Quarterly Review, focusing on his forecast of the recent global crisis, published in 2003. This contribution already contained precise reference – often backed by data for the USA and other economies – to trends and ‘explanations’ of the crisis that several mainstream economists (e.g. Robert Lucas) claimed were impossible to see before the crisis itself. These include the accumulation of excessive household debt, excessive complacency on the side of the Fed, speculative bubbles in the US stock exchange and real estate markets, and the deflationary pressures caused by radical technological innovations. PSL’s example shows that the economists can and often do provide useful services to society, provided they build on solid theories.