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The Drigins of Central Bank Cooperatidn the Establishment of the Bank Fdr International Settlements Paolo Baffi

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The Drigins of Central Bank Cooperatidn the Establishment of the Bank Fdr International Settlements Paolo Baffi HISTORICAL PUBLICATIONS OF THE BANK OF ITALY THE DRIGINS OF CENTRAL BANK COOPERATIDN THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE BANK FDR INTERNATIONAL SETTLEMENTS PAOLO BAFFI with an essay on Paolo Baffi by Antonio Fazio lntroduction by Charles P. Kindleberger EDITORI LATERZA 'Historical Publications of the Bank ofltaly': documents, data an d criticai interpretations for a mone­ tary history of modern Italy. Paolo Baffi, the author of many writings in the field of economics and monetary analysis, returned to research upon leaving the helm of the Bank of Italy and worked on different issues and projects. His interest in historical research led him to undertake to write the history of the Bank for International Settlements, which he had served first as an outside consultant, then as a member of the Board of Directors and, finally, as Vice Chairman. Baffi died before he was able to make full use of the large quantity of material that he had assembled from archives in Europe and the United States and complete his historical investigation. However, he did leave us the manuscript published here, in which the complex negotiations and the meetings that led to the birth of the Bank for International Settlements are reconstructed and the principal events of the Bank's first two years of activity (1930-31) examined on the basis of unpublished sources. On the cover: the first informai meeting of the Board of Directors of the Bank for International Settlements in Aprii 1930. Historical Archive of the BIS. Photograph: Jeck, Base!. HISTORICAL PUBLICATIONS OF THE BANK OF ITALY HISTORICAL PUBLICATIONS OF THE BANK OF ITALY ADVISORY BOARO Antonio Fazio Piero Barucci Tancredi Bianchi Filippo Cesarano Pierluigi Ciocca Franco Cotula Marcello de Cecco Luigi De Rosa Guido M. Rey Paolo Sylos Labini Gianni T oniolo The publication o/ this work was made possible tbanks to collaboration between the Bank /or International Settlements and the Bank o/ Italy. This volume was edited by Franco Cotula and Gabriella Raitano. ESSA YS AND RESEARCH SERIES VOLUME I PAOLO BAFFI THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE BANK POR INTERNATIONAL SETTLEMENTS with an essay on Paolo Baffi by Antonio Fazio Introduction by Charles P. Kindleberger EDITORI LATERZA 2002 For the text by Baffi:© Paolo Baffi (t) and the Bank for International Settlements © 2002, Gius. Laterza & Figli Finito di stampare nel novembre 2002 Poligrafico Dehoniano - Stabilimento di Bari per conto della Gius. Laterza & Figli Spa CL 20-6907-5 ISBN 88-420-6907-8 TABLE OF CONTENTS Paolo Baffi, monetary economist and centrai bank governor by Antonio Fazio VII Paolo Baffi and the Bank for International Settlements by Andrew D. Crockett XXIII Introduction by Cbarles P Kindleberger xxv THE 0RIGINS OF CENTRAL BANK COOPERATION I. Introduction 3 II. The Young Plan 9 III. The Hague Conference and the Organisation Committee 41 IV. The controversy over the senior positions in the Bank 65 V. American disaffection 75 VI. The initial guidelines for the Bank's operations. The problem of medium-term credits 85 VII. The role of the BIS as perceived by the experts (May 1931) 97 VIII. An undersized Bank 125 VI Table o/ contents IX. The web of vetoes 13 3 X. The Wiggin-Layton Committee (August 1931) 145 XI. The Beneduce Committee (December 1931) 157 XII. The Schacht and Francqui Plans 167 Abbreviations 177 Editoria! note by Gabriella Raitano 179 List o/ the historical archives consulted 185 Re/erences 187 Bibliography 191 Appendix 205 Table Al. Presidents of the Bank, Chairmen and Vice Chairmen of the Board of Directors and Generai Managers from 1930 to 1933, p. 205 Table A2. Members of the Board ofDirectors from 1930 to 1933, p.206 Index 207 PAOLO BAFFI, MONETARY ECONOMIST AND CENTRAL BANK GOVERNOR by Antonio Fazio'~ l. Paolo Baffi was born in Broni, in tbe province of Pavia, on 5 August 1911. In 1930, wbile a second-year student at Luigi Bocconi University in Milan, be contributed a series of book reviews to tbe 'Giornale degli Economisti'. In 1930-31, on a scbolarship, be studi ed at tbe London Scbool of Economics, wbere tbe lectures of William Beveridge reinforced bis interest in tbe issues of unemployment an d social justice. He took bis degree in November 1932 witb a tbesis on Causes and aspects o/ the world economie depression. F rom 193 3 t o 1936 be was assistant t o Professar Giorgio Mortara in tbe Statistics Department of Bocconi University. He left tbe University in Marcb 1936 wben be was called to tbe Bank of Italy by Vincenzo Azzolini as part of a pian to strengtben tbe Bank's Researcb Department. Here be played a major role in tbe compilation of credit statisties by brancb of economie activity and tbe preparation of a tbree-volume study on tbe Italian economy in tbe period 1931-36,1 continuing bis collaboration witb Mortara, wbo was adviser to tbe Bank of Italy for tbese projects. Returning to tbe Bank after a wartime biatus, in 1944 be was made Head of tbe Researcb Department; later, in 1956, be was appointed Economie Adviser. 1 ' Governar of the Bank of Italv. 1 Banca d'Italia, L'economia italiana nel sessennio 1931-1936, Istituto Poligrafico dello Stato, Rome 1938. See P. Baffi, Testimonianze e ricordi, Historical Research Office of the Bank of Italy, ed. Scheiwiller, Milan 1990, pp. 53 ff. VIII Paolo Baffi, monetary economist and centra! han/e governar Un der the guidance of Paolo Baffi economie research received a powerful stimulus, with theoretical analysis complementing empirica! study ofltalian economie problems. His analytical skills and ability to organise research were crucial in the immediate postwar period, when Italy's shaky economy needed to gain the confidence of the Allies. Baffi made his group of civil servants in the Research Department the Allies' preferred Italian interlocutor for economie questions.2 His own work was decisive in implanting in the Bank's staff the commitment to analytical rigour and independent judgment that would enable the centrai bank to serve the national interest. Baffi was a member of the Committee set up by Marcello Soleri, the Treasury Minister, on 25 September 1944 t o study the problems of postwar financial reconstruction; he also took part in the work of the Economie Committee of the Italian Constitutional Convention. His collaboration with Luigi Einaudi, who was appointed Governar of the Bank ofitaly inJanuary 1945, began with theAnnual Reports for 1943 and 1944. Immediately afterwards, Baffi worked with a group of Allied experts engaged in a preliminary assessment of the economie and monetary situation in Northern Italy. This collaboration paved the way to the fruitful cooperati an between Italy and the United States on the problems of reconstruction. In December 1946 the Board of Directors of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) met again in Basle after a break of seven years. On that occasion the decision was taken to invite Per Jacobsson, the chief economist of the BIS, who was held in high esteem by Einaudi an d Donato Menichella, to carry out a survey of the state of the Italian economy. Designated to work together with Jacobsson, inJune 1947 Baffi went to Basle to draft thefinal report. This document was the international financial system's principal source of information on the economie situation of postwar Italy and helped to restare the country's access to foreign bank credit.3 A decade later, Baffi was made one of the two BIS outside 2 P. Baffi, Via Nazionale e gli Economùti Stranieri 1944-53, in 'Rivista di Storia Economica', new series, 1985, no. l, reprinted in P. Baffi, 1èstimonian­ ze e ricordi, pp. 99 ff. 3 P. Baffi, Testimonianze e ricordi, p. 106. Paolo Baffi, monetary economist aml centra! bank governar lX economie advisers, together with F riedrich Lutz, a position h e h el d from 1956 to 1960. His relationship with the BIS continued for the rest of his life, as is recounted in the foreword t o this volume by the Bank's Generai Manager, A.D. Crockett. In 1988 Paolo Baffi was appointed Vice Chairman of the BIS Board of Directors. In 1971 Baffi accepted an invitation to teach Monetary History and Policy at the Political Science Faculty of the University of Rome. His lectures, which continued regularly until1979, hence during his years as Governor of the Bank of Italy, constituted an opportunity to reorder his ideas, to explain to his students the most important issues involved in official monetary policy documents and decisions, and to respond to objections and correct shortcomings revealed by criticai review. The importance he attached to research and his generous commitment to the preparation of young people made Paolo Baffi a model of method and style for ali those, both inside and outside the Bank of Italy, engaged in work on monetary economics. 2. Baffi worked closely with Einaudi and Menichella and was their valued adviser. During their governorships he constructed the first statement about the flow of monetary savings and the money supply. Initially focused on centrai bank transactions, the survey was subsequently extended to the entire money supply, in order to identify the different sources of credit and money creation.4 His analysis focused on the interactions between the domestic and foreign components of changes in the money supply: while an excessive expansion of the domestic component, implemented with the aim of stimulating economie activity,5 could be neutralized by a contraction in the foreign component, he noted that an appropriate share of monetary base creation needed to come from the foreign sector in order to bring the reserves into line with the growth in foreign trade.6 He also 4 P.
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