Foreword
In 1945 the Bank of Italy published its first issue of the Bollettino statistico. Then, in 1971, reviving the title of a collection of studies in honour of Luigi Einaudi, it started the series Contributi alla ricerca economica. Subsequently, in October 1983, statistical and research strands were complemented by the publication of the Bollettino economico. As of this issue, the Bollettino will also appear in an English version, the content of which may differ slightly from the Italian to meet the needs of an international readership. This last strand is designed to provide a wide circle of economists, businessmen, bankers and commentators with a useful tool in their continuing discussion and analysis of economic developments and policies.
Economic policy is now continuously scrutinized and debated in public fora. For the Bank to perform its institutional tasks, an accurate assessment o f developments is essential. We benefit from an invaluable flow of information and critical analysis from external sources: scholars, practical economists, journalists and research institutes. Inside the Bank this analysis is entrusted mainly to the Research Department, which practices and carries forward a tradition of economic ideas, of diligents in research and of a sense of public service that has been kept alive through changing generations and circumstances.
The flow of figures and information to the various divisions of the Research Department has become more abundant over the years. Data that were collected monthly or quarterly are now available day by day. Phenomena that were measured only in aggregate terms are now broken down into their basic components. Aspects of the international economy that were difficult to document or considered to have little influence on domestic affairs are now monitored on a regular basis. Nonetheless, it remains difficult, as always, to interpret economic signs, to identify the underlying trends and needs of the economy and to draw the appropriate conclusions for policy action. The mass of information available sometimes conveys contradictory messages, while economic theory, which should illuminate and bring order to them so as to arrive at general conclusions, is torn by even greater controversy than in the past.
The period involved in acquiring knowledge, comparing evidence and grappling with doubts, which precedes and enriches the moment of decision taking, has grown more important and more demanding. It appears well worthwhile that our interlocutors outside the Bank should participate more closely in this process. Inside the Bank, the regular preparation of a concise and systematic description of actual developments can only advantage their interpretation.
Freedom of choice increases with the independence of economic study and interpretation. Achievement of this condition requires that, within the Bank itself, in its economic analyses and their presentation in publications such as the Economic Bulletin, there should be the intellectual freedom without which no study can be fruitful.
Carlo Azeglio Ciampi
