While the Italian economists' antidemocratic views were more explicit— Pantaleoni called democracy "the management of the state and its functions by the most ignorant, the most incapable" (Pantaleoni 1922, 269)— the British technocrats also recognized that, even in Britain, economic institutions required exemption from democratic control in order to proceed optimally. Indeed, the Brussels and Genoa conferences formalized central bank independence as a crucial step to this end. Th e famed British economist Ralph Hawtrey described the advantage of situating a central bank free from "criticism and pressure," noting that the bank could follow the precept "Never explain; never regret; never apologise" (Hawtrey 1925a, 243).

Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, loc. 71