Pier Carlo Padoan

Pier Carlo Padoan
File:Pier Carlo Padoan.jpg
Minister of Economy and Finances
Incumbent
Assumed office 24 February 2014
Prime Minister	Matteo Renzi
Preceded by	Fabrizio Saccomanni
Personal details
Born	(1950-01-19) 19 January 1950 Rome, Italy
Political party	Independent
Alma mater	Sapienza University

Pier Carlo Padoan (Italian: [pjɛr ˈkarlo padoˈan]; born 19 January 1950, Rome) is an Italian economist who has been the Minister of Economy and Finances of Italy since 2014.

Padoan had been also director of the International Monetary Fund for Italy from 2001 to 2005. On 1 June 2007, he became vice-secretary general of the OECD.

Early life

Pier Carlo Padoan was born in Rome, on 19 January 1950. In 1970s he graduated in economics at the La Sapienza University in Rome. During the years at the University, Padoan harshly criticised, in the magazine Marxist Critic, the economic theories of John Maynard Keynes, being influenced by the ideas of the polish economist Michał Kalecki.

Academic career

Until 2007, he was Professor of Economics at the Sapienza University of Rome. From 1992 until 2001 he also was professor at the College of Europe, Bruges and Warsaw, and a visiting professor since 2001. He was also a visiting professor at Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium, University of Urbino, Italy, Universidad de la Plata, Argentina, and University of Tokyo, Japan. He has published in the field of European economics and political economy.

Political career

From 1998 until 2001 he was economic adviser to Italian Prime Ministers Massimo D'Alema and Giuliano Amato during EU budget negotiations like Agenda 2000, and the Lisbon Agenda, at summits of the European Council and the G8.

He was an International Monetary Fund official from 2001 to 2005 as the Italian Executive Director and as Board Member in charge of European coordination. He is a Consultant to the World Bank, European Commission and European Central Bank, where he has called for aggressive easing. He has been criticizing budget cutbacks in the euro zone's weakest economies, struggling with debt, which he has called periphery countries.

Since June 2007 he has been Deputy Secretary General at the OECD in Paris, and their chief economist since 2009. He is the OECD's G20 Finance Deputy, leads the initiatives 'Strategic Response', 'Green Growth' and 'Innovation'.

File:Napolitano - Padoan 2.jpg

Pier Carlo Padoan with President of Italy Giorgio Napolitano

On 19 February 2014 Matteo Renzi chose him as Italy's new finance minister.

Fiscal politics

"I am of the view that the very tight fiscal rules which Europe currently has in place could be temporarily relaxed in order to make the necessary resources available to boost employment. This would be self-sustaining ..."

In a letter to the European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs Pierre Moscovici in late 2014, Padoan and the finance ministers of the euro zone's other biggest economies – Michel Sapin of France and Wolfgang Schäuble of Germany – urged the European Commission to draw up EU-wide laws to curb corporate tax avoidance and prevent member states from offering lower taxes to attract investors, calling for a comprehensive anti-BEPS (Base Erosion and Profit Shifting) directive for member states to adopt by the end of 2015.

Italian government debt

The Italy Government Debt to GDP has reached 132.6% at the end of 2015 up from the 128.8% of December the 31th 2013.

Memberships

• World Economic Forum, European and multinational corporate stakeholders
• Fondazione Italianieuropei, Director, Italian policy think-tank of economic and social issues.

Publications

Padoan edited or authored 14 books and papers, from 1986 until 2010, with titles in English as follows:

• Innovation and Growth: Chasing a Moving Frontier by Vandana Chandra, Deniz Eröcal, Pier Carlo Padoan and Carlos A. Primo Braga. OECD, World Bank 2010. [1]
• The Marshall Plan: Lessons Learned for the 21st Century, edited by Eliot Sorel and Pier Carlo Padoan. OECD 2008.
• Euro-American Trade and Financial Alliances, 2005 book, editor
• The Structural Foundations of International Finance, 2003 book, editor "advocates entrepreneurial co-ordination by productive enterprises"
• A Transatlantic Perspective on the Euro, 2000 paperback, editor euro as potential global currency
• Monetary Union, Employment and Growth: The Impact of the Euro as a Global Currency, edited by Pier Carlo Padoan. Edward Elgar Publishing 2001.
• Technology accumulation and diffusion: is there a regional dimension? by Pier Carlo Padoan, World Bank Publications. 1997 (36-page working paper)
• Trade and the accumulation and diffusion of knowledge, by Pier Carlo Padoan, World Bank Publications. 1996 (47-page working paper)
• Europe between East and South by Siro Lombardini and Pier Carlo Padoan. 1994
• Political Economy of European Integration: Markets and Institutions by Paolo Guerrieri and Pier Carlo Padoan. 1989
• Political Economy of International Co-Operation by Pier Carlo Padoan and Paolo Guerreri. 1988
• The Political Economy of International Financial Instability by Pier Carlo Padoan. 1986

See also

• Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

External links

Political offices
Preceded by Fabrizio Saccomanni	Minister of Economy and Finances 2014–present	Incumbent