Will Mario Draghi’s Center Hold?
A closer look at the Italian prime minister’s career reveals how the tangled history of post-Keynesian economic thought shaped his technocratic brand. Mario Draghi on March 10th 2021 (Samantha Zucchi/Insidefoto/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images)
Italyâs new Prime Minister Mario Draghi has been hailed as the nonpartisan expert the country needs to get its house in order. But who is Draghi? A closer look at his career reveals the tangled history of post-Keynesian economic thought and European neoliberalism that inform the prime ministerâs technocratic brand.
Draghi was born and raised in Rome, the child of a banker and a pharmacist. In 1970, he received his undergraduate degree from Romeâs La Sapienza, under the supervision of star economist and public intellectual Federico Caffè. Draghiâs mentor took part in the Resistance and was an architect of the new democratic Italy while work