Italy’s prime minister lives in the Palazzo Chigi, an imposing structure with a direct view of one of Rome’s ancient treasures, the Column of Marcus Aurelius. Now, in 2021, the building’s new resident is an MIT graduate.
That would be Mario Draghi, PhD ’77, who in early February successfully formed a governing coalition after extensive negotiations with parties across Italy’s political spectrum. Draghi, 73, a native of Rome, is best known for his stellar turn as president of the European Central Bank from 2011 to 2019. Vowing to do “whatever it takes” to save the euro as a common currency, Draghi steered away from a strict commitment to austerity, instead cutting interest rates and developing debt-relief programs that helped a variety of European countries, including France, Italy, and Spain, vastly improve their fiscal outlooks.
Draghi has a wealth of high-level governing experience: before becoming ECB president, he was governor of the Bank of Italy and, before that, director general of the Italian Treasury. All that success is built on a strong intellectual foundation. As an MIT doctoral student in economics, Draghi studied with Franco Modigliani, an Italian compatriot and Nobel laureate.
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