Moreover, to fully explain why austerity thrived in Italy, we need to tell another side of the story: how foreign interests infl uenced— and in some cases defi ned— the rebuilding of a country that had teetered on the brink of Bolshevism. By the 1920s Italy was a country with substantial war debt, and was heavily reliant on imports of goods and raw material. In other words, it was a country beholden to others: fundamentally dependent on foreign capital and credit for its economic investment and development. Italy’s position of dependence meant that international creditors could exert strong pressures— including pressures that would open Italy to foreign investment, even at the expense of the Italian people. Th is came in the form of austerity.

Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, loc. 1326