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On the occasion of super Mario's latest act, I finally took the opportunity to read @aspeciale's and @jrandow's L'Artefice on Draghi and his years as ECB President. A thread with some of my personal highlights from this really interesting (and timely!) book 1/n
Starting from Draghi's personal story and its inevitable impact on his personality: the loss both his parents at the age of 15 that made him responsible -as the oldest child- for his two siblings 2/n
Draghi's profound sense of pragmatism. One anecdote I liked was about how, when in the early days of the euro, Janet Yellen was listing its many flaws at a BIS dinner, Draghi hits back by asking for a more productive stance that considers the existing realities 3/n
Sometimes overlooked when focusing on Draghi-the-central-banker: an edge in politics & business, going as far back as Italy's early '90s privatizations, in which Draghi played a key role (and where his familiarity with high finance raised eyebrows) 4/n
Draghi's understanding of financial market dynamics, which he made sure to build during his stint as a GS executive. Loved the story where he asks Jim O'Neill if he can start joining the traders' meetings in order to learn how things work (and whether "people would laugh") 5/n
Critically, how adept Draghi was not just at choosing the right policies (often ironically the simplest aspect), but also in taking into account issues such as legal nuances, in building support, and in pushing political leaders to do their part 6/n
Draghi's realization that communication would play be key if the ECB's efforts were to succeed, making the necessary changes in the @ecb media relations department (hiring journalists, including German speakers to help get the message across) 7/n
The sometimes under-appreciated fact that Draghi's influence wasn't just critical in policymaking, but also in transforming the ECB as an intellectual force and turning it into a true federal European institution 8/n
An all-around great book. My only complaints: a somewhat thin list of references (lots of Bloomberg articles & ECB releases, but way too many anonymous funzionario/governatore/collega), and the order of its chapters (Greek crisis arrives so late!) 9/9
