Alberto Beneduce (29 May 1877 – 26 April 1944) was an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

politician, scholar and financier, who was among the founders of many significant state-run finance institutions in Italy.

Early life and education

Beneduce was born in

Caserta Caserta () is the capital of the province of Caserta in the Campania region of Italy. It is an important agricultural, commercial, and industrial ''comune'' and city. Caserta is located on the edge of the Campanian plain at the foot of the Camp ...

on 29 March 1877. He earned a mathematics degree from the

University of Naples The University of Naples Federico II ( it, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II) is a public university in Naples, Italy. Founded in 1224, it is the oldest public non-sectarian university in the world, and is now organized into 26 depar ...

Career and views

Beneduce was a

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

and was a leading member of the

Italian Reformist Socialist Party The Italian Reformist Socialist Party ( it, Partito Socialista Riformista Italiano, PSRI) was a social-democratic political party in Italy. History It was formed in 1912 by those leading reformist socialists who had been expelled from the Ital ...

. He was elected to the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourbon R ...

in 1919 and 1921 representing the party from his hometown Caserta. Beneduce managed to connect with high finance figures and to collaborate with the Italy's

fascist regime Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy an ...

. He worked in different capacities, including statistician, teacher, demographer, agricultural and insurance specialist. He was a university professor of statistics and demography until 1919. He contributed to the establishment of the national institution of insurance (INA), which was founded in 1912. He also headed the INA from 1912 to 1919. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, he was asked to established an institution that would help the veterans in finding jobs. As a result, he involved in founding the related body,

Opera Nazionale Combattenti The Opera Nazionale Combattenti was an Italian charitable organisation set up to provide assistance to veterans of the First World War. It was established in December 1917, in the immediate aftermath of the disastrous Italian defeat at the Bat ...

(ONC). In the period between 4 July 1921 and 26 February 1922 Beneduce served as the minister of labor and social security in the

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

led by

Ivanoe Bonomi Ivanoe Bonomi (18 October 1873 – 20 April 1951) was an Italian politician and journalist who served as Prime Minister of Italy from 1921 to 1922 and again from 1944 to 1945. Background and earlier career Ivanoe Bonomi was born in Mantua, I ...

. Beneduce was appointed head of two state-run credit bodies: Consorzio di Credito per le Opere Pubbliche (

Crediop Dexia Crediop S.p.A. is an Italian bank specializing in financing public infrastructure. It was part of Dexia Group, as the owner of 70% shares. Banco Popolare, Banca Popolare di Milano and Banca Popolare dell'Emilia Romagna owned 10% each as minor ...

) in 1919 and Istituto di Credito per le Imprese di Pubblica Utilità (ICIPU) in 1924. Until 1939 he headed both institutions. These institutions were later merged under the name of Istituto per il Credito Navale. In 1931, he was named as a board member of the

Istituto Mobiliare Italiano Banca IMI is a subsidiary of Intesa Sanpaolo which is specialized in investment banking and capital markets. The bank can trace its origins to the Istituto Mobiliare Italiano. IMI merged with Istituto Bancario San Paolo di Torino to form Sanpaolo ...

. He also served as an economic advisor to

Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in 194 ...

. In 1933, he was appointed by Mussolini as the head of the

institute for industrial reconstruction The Istituto per la Ricostruzione Industriale (IRI; English: "Institute for Industrial Reconstruction") was an Italian public holding company established in 1933 by the Fascist regime to rescue, restructure and finance banks and private companies ...

(IRI), being the first president of the body. In 1936 he was simultaneously president of IRI, of the public credit institutions Crediop and ICIPU , of the Institute for Naval Credit, and a member of the Board of Directors of IMI and of the National Foreign Exchange Institute while in the private sector he was president of the Italian Society for Southern Railways. He served in the post until 1939 when he became a senator in 1939, but he retired from politics and other public offices due to his health problems in 1940. However, he retained his membership on the boards of various companies until his death. He was an advocate of a company management approach based on the private-sector criteria and free from political influences. Beneduce was also a director of the leading companies, including

Fiat Fiat Automobiles S.p.A. (, , ; originally FIAT, it, Fabbrica Italiana Automobili di Torino, lit=Italian Automobiles Factory of Turin) is an Italian automobile manufacturer, formerly part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, and since 2021 a subsidiary ...

Pirelli Pirelli & C. S.p.A. is a multinational tyre manufacturer based in Milan, Italy. The company, which has been listed on the Milan Stock Exchange since 1922, is the 6th-largest tyre manufacturer and is focused on the consumer production of tyre ...

, Montecatini, Edison and Generali.

Activities

Beneduce and Luigi Rossi recorded detailed statistics about Italian citizens, who had migrated to the US, but returned to Italy between 1905 and 1906. Beneduce was instrumental in the nationalization of life insurance in Italy. His activities in the finance sector of Italy shaped the industrial development of the country between the 1920s and the 1990s. One of his significant activities in this regard was the reorganization of the bankrupted Italian banking system. In addition, he was the mentor of many eminent financiers and technocrats, who reconstructed Italy after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. He also developed Mussolini's deflation policy.

Personal life and death

Beneduce had five children, three of whom were given names that reflected his socialist orientation: Idea Nuova Socialista, Italia Libera and Vittoria Proletaria. The other two children of him were Ernesto and Anna. One of his daughter, Idea, married

Enrico Cuccia Enrico Cuccia (24 November 1907 – 23 June 2000) was an Italian banker, who was the first and long-term president of Mediobanca SpA, the Milan-based investment bank, and a significant figure in the history of capitalism in Italy. Early life ...

, a significant financier. Beneduce died in Rome on 26 April 1944.

Awards

Beneduce was awarded the Grand Officer of the

Order of the Crown of Italy The Order of the Crown of Italy ( it, Ordine della Corona d'Italia, italic=no or OCI) was founded as a national order in 1868 by King Vittorio Emanuele II, to commemorate the unification of Italy in 1861. It was awarded in five degrees for civi ...

on 16 November 1918 and the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Crown of Italy on 5 January 1922.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Beneduce, Alberto 20th-century Italian economists 20th-century Italian mathematicians 1877 births 1944 deaths Italian Ministers of Labour Italian Reformist Socialist Party politicians Italian statisticians Leaders of organizations Members of the Senate of the Kingdom of Italy People from Caserta University of Naples Federico II alumni Deputies of Legislature XXV of the Kingdom of Italy Deputies of Legislature XXVI of the Kingdom of Italy Recipients of the Order of the Crown (Italy) Giornale degli economisti e annali di economia editors