Italian austerity was far from an externality imposed by the economic troika (ECB, European Commission, and IMF). Within Italy, the intellectual hold of the country's austere economists— the socalled "Bocconi boys"— continues to dominate debates around politics and economy, both domestic and international. Th at Bocconi University proudly maintains the tradition of Luigi Einaudi, who taught public fi nance there from 1902 to 1925, is no small part of this. Like their predecessors in the 1920s, Italian economists such as Alberto Alesina, Silvia Ardagna, Carlo Favero, Francesco Giavazzi, and Guido Tabellini have served as prominent advisors to the IMF, the World Bank, and the ECB, entrenching a core belief that economic growth requires a public majority to accept working harder for lower wages.

Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, loc. 1568