Lorenzo Bini Smaghi

Lorenzo Bini Smaghi (born 29 November 1956 in Florence) is an Italian economist who has been a Member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank ( [http://www.ecb.int ECB] ) since June 2005. In the ECB Executive Board he is responsible for international and European relations, for the legal department of the Bank and for its administration, including the ambitious project of building a new site for the ECB in the Frankfurt Grossmarkthalle.

Lorenzo Bini Smaghi grew up in Brussels (Belgium), acquiring a knowledge of foreign languages at an early age. In 1974 he graduated from the Lycee Francais de Bruxelles. In 1978 he graduated in Economics from the Université Catholique de Louvain (Belgium). In 1980 he received a master's degree in Economics from the University of Southern California; and a Ph. D. from the University of Chicago in 1988.

Before joining the ECB, he was Director General for International Financial Relations of the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance. His earlier appointments include: Deputy Director-General Research of the ECB, Head of the Policy Division of the European Monetary Institute (Frankfurt) and Head of the Exchange Rate and International Trade Division of the Research Department of Banca d’Italia (Rome). He has published extensively in monetary and international economics.

Lorenzo Bini Smaghi is also President of the [http://www.palazzostrozzi.org/ Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi] , a mixed private-public institution which promotes cultural initiatives in Florence. He is married and has two children.

Publications

Author of several articles and books on international and European monetary and financial issues.

*L’Euro, Il Mulino, Bologna, 1998 (Third Edition: 2001)
*Open Issues in European Central Banking, Macmillan, London, 2000 (with D. Gros)
*Chi Ci Salva dalla Prossima Crisi Finanziaria?, Il Mulino, Bologna, 2000