Upon the death of Paolo Baffi, the Bank of Italy undertook a number of initiatives to honour his memory, including the publication of his collected works and a new library named after him that was inaugurated last December. And today marks the start of the series of lectures bearing his name.
The Paolo Baffi Lecture will address a significant topic in the field of money and finance, along the lines of the academic research to which Paolo Baffi continued to apply his itzterest and attetttiotl, even when his commitments as a centrai banker became heavier and more pressing.
Accordingly, the Paolo Baffi Lecture has been conceived as a forum in which eminent scholars can present their contributions of further research, critique and analysis. The field of monetary and financial economics, though intensively cultivated by what has grown into a grand tradition of theoretical analysis and empirica/ study, can and should continue to bring Jorth new thinking, spurred by changing economie realities required for the generai development of economics and the social sciences, and indispensable to those whose responsibility it is to decide and to act.
