Saving and Credit in Dell'Amore's Thought

Giordano Dell'Amore, economist, Professor of Banking and formerly Rector at the Bocconi University (Milan), died in 1981. He had a peculiar position because of the combination of two activities with synergic effects. In fact, he was not only a prominent scholar, but he also was a successful banker at the vertex of CARIPLO, the giant savings bank of Milan, and in the latter job he played a key-role in promoting economic development of the whole Lombardy during more than two decades (50's up to mid-70's). During his working life he managed to bridge ethics with economics and management practice. Professor Dell'Amore may undoubtedly be considered the most important Italian author in banking studies throughout XX century. The paper is a personal tribute given by someone who had the privilege to work closely with him for many years. As Professor Dell'Amore's scientific interests were too varied and numerous to be examined in one paper, the attention will be focused on his works in the fields of savings and credit. In an essay published in 1963, he made an outstanding contribution to the studies on household savings, a subject that had hitherto been inadequately covered by the international economic literature. As the next step in his theoretical development, he set up on his magnum opus, a treatise on banking, which regrettably never got beyond the third volume. The first work in this weighty series appeared in 1965 and was devoted to analysis of institutional lending, seen chiefly from the bank-management viewpoint. The second volume came out four years later and encompassed subjects such as structure, rules and functions of banking systems while the third, a meditated economic survey of banking operations, was not published until 1978. Dell'Amore writings gave an innovative impetus to the improvement of banking studies in Italy, a field in which the country already had a distinguished tradition. The article, while surveying the several works by Dell'Amore, concentrates on the two main areas where theoretical contributions of his teachings have been more impressive: the economics of household savings and the functioning of credit markets. On February 27th 2006, a square in the centre of Milan (nearby the Scala opera-house) has been named after Giordano Dell'Amore.