«It is always a great pleasure to return to my university. In Cagliari I find many friends. I have not abandoned my roots ». Paolo Savona, now president of Consob, in the past experiences at the top of banks and Confindustria and the Government, in the role of minister, with Carlo Azeglio Ciampi and more recently with Giuseppe Conte, speaks tomorrow morning in Cagliari, in Room A of the Department of Economics and Business Sciences of the University, at the conference on “The economics of cryptocurrency”. Before addressing the legal and financial implications of the increasingly frequent use of virtual currency, Savona analyzes the real economy. Just yesterday Prime Minister Draghi made a profession of optimism: "There is trust in Italy".
Professor, how do you see the scenario of the country?
«I cannot express an opinion on the Government due to the institutional role I hold. I say that we are all breathing a sigh of relief compared to the fears of two or three years ago. The situation has improved considerably. Thank god".
How useful are the NPRR resources? How much will they be able to support the post-Covid recovery?
“This is the European initiative that I have always dreamed of and advocated as a Minister of European Affairs. They finally got there and this gave me enormous satisfaction. Furthermore, the Recovery and Resilience Plan opens the way for technological innovation and complex infrastructures that can ensure lasting development ».
Innovation and new infrastructures introduce a theme to which you are paying a lot of attention at this stage.
«In 1970, when I was at the Bank of Italy, an econometric model was formulated which proposed an interpretative scheme of the traditional Italian economy. Now I try to come up with a scheme of the same type to be adapted to the cryptocurrency. In recent months at the helm of Consob, I have repeatedly highlighted the need to regulate the cryptocurrency system to prevent a brilliant invention from being, as already happened with derivatives in 2008, the origin of a new crisis ".
There is an urgent need to clarify virtual currency.
«There is great difficulty in understanding the different ideas about the usefulness and desirability of making these virtual currencies operate freely. I am referring not only to bitcoins, the most popular, but in general to all similar currencies that have now reached a very high number. We are now talking about 2 thousand cryptocurrencies, but only two or three are really important ».
How to clear the mists that surround the world of virtual currencies?
"One of the problems for which the authorities are unable to agree, particularly in Europe, where they are studying this aspect, is due to the fact that it is not well understood what the cryptocurrency economy is, understood as the underlying economic theory . To regulate the currency, the interventions of illustrious scholars were necessary, from Adam Smith to Keynes, to Milton Friedman ».
And now?
«I propose a possible theoretical scheme: if we agree on the existence of this problem it is possible to make decisions. We refer to econometric models that explain to us how consumption, investments, exports, imports and public spending go. I say that we need to recalculate these functions because we do not take cryptocurrencies into account ».
Professor, let us understand.
«Today cryptocurrencies create a purchasing power in those who generate them, which becomes a purchasing power in competition with that of traditional operators. Let me give you an example: when bitcoins were born, at best you could buy a pizza with a bitcoin. Now with a bitcoin it is possible to buy a pizzeria. This is why I say that this artificial purchasing power must be included in the function of consumption ».
What happens to investments?
“There is a greater possibility of financing. The entrepreneur also has cryptocurrencies available and is no longer bound to the judgment of the banks. It can go on the market as Tesla did, which got into debt by circulating cryptocurrency. I think of the case of Elon Musk, who used dogcoin, which he ironically registered in the dog's name. Then the virtual currency affects consumption and investments and is also able to alter the import and export functions. How? We don't know yet, but cryptocurrencies are affecting the world of the economy. But there is one thing above all that I want to understand ».
Which?
"How cryptocurrencies will be regulated. Traditional activity is moving into the infosphere, a term introduced by the philosopher Luciano Floridi. We pass from materiality to virtuality. I need to know how it will turn out. '
Let's go back to the world of the real economy again. What prospects for Sardinia?
«It must be able to fit into the virtuous circuit that will spring from the PNRR. I don't know in detail about the projects, but the Plan also for my Island is a unique opportunity to give new vigor to the production system and grow better ».
He now focuses on the world of cryptocurrencies after directing his attentions to monetary sovereignty and third capitalism.
«I study all the time. I have a principle: every day I have to learn a new concept as my masters taught me. At the end of the day I ask myself this question: what have I learned today? And if I realize that I have not learned anything, I despair ».
Massimiliano Rais
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