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Alberto Bagnai (Florence, 12 December 1962) is an Italian economist with a particular specialism in econometrics and the author of two Italian best-selling books Il tramonto dell'euro - Twilight of the Euro (2012) and L'Italia può farcela - Italy:Yes it can (2014), both presenting the need for Italy to leave the Eurozone. He is currently associate professor at "G. d'Annunzio" University of Chieti-Pescara and a columnist in the Italian daily newspapers il Fatto Quotidiano and Il Giornale.

<!--== Biography == Bagnai was born in Florence in 1962 and later moved to Rome where he studied economics at the Sapienza University of Rome in the Dipartimento di Economia Pubblica (now Dipartimento di Economia e Diritto - Economics and Law Department). He attended courses with Federico Caffè, Mario Arcelli, Giancarlo Gandolfo and Francesco Carlucci. He completed his masters thesis in applied econometrics in 1989 (titled "Software for econometric estimation and testing: a survey ") and his Ph.D. in 1994 (titled:"The Italian public debt: sustainability and dynamic path").

In 1996 he was appointed assistant professor in econometrics at the Department of Public Economics (University La Sapienza). In 2005 Bagnai became associate professor at the "G. d'Annunzio" University of Chieti and Pescara teaching courses in international macroeconomics and the economic policy of globalization. Since 2012 he is a researcher with the CREAM at the University of Rouen, France, and since 2013 he is a member of the steering committee of the International Network for Economic Research. He founded in the same year the Associazione Italiana per lo Studio delle Asimmetrie Economiche (Italian Association for the Study of Economics Asymmetries), of which he is the chairman. Since 2014 he is visiting fellow at the Centre for Globalisation Research in Queen Mary University of London.

Since January 2010 he intervenes regularly in the public debate, posting on Italian blogs like sbilanciamoci.info and lavoce.info. Since November 2011 he runs his own blog, Goofynomics whose success was recognized by the Italian Macchia Nera Awards in 2013; and in 2014. Goofynomics was voted the second best Italian economics website after the website of Il Sole 24 Ore, Italy's leading economic and business newspaper. Bagnai runs two other blogs: "Quelli che" in the newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano, and "Il clandestino" for il Giornale newspaper. He is a frequent invited guest in the traditional electronic media, appearing on news channels like TgCom24 and leading political Italian talk shows on Italian television such Piazzapulita, Omnibus and Servizio pubblico. Bagnai testified in a hearing held on 4 December 2013 at the Italian Chamber of Deputies Finance Standing Committee on the subject of tax policy and the banking sector in relation to the euro currency, on the eve of the Italian Presidency of the European Union.

Research activity
Bagnai currently is the director of the Associazione Italiana per lo Studio delle Asimmetrie Economiche (Italian Association for the Study of Economic Asymmetries) and is leading a project for assessing the impact of the asymmetry of European rules on the performance of the Italian economy.

His research focuses on the study of the imbalances in government spending and external accounts in newly industrialized countries, in global economics and the Eurozone, and more generally on the relationship between international trade and countries growth performance. This led him to specialize in the analysis of macroeconomics scenarios, an activity which he has pursued in the framework of European Commission projects and Italian Progetti di Rilevante Interesse Nazionale-PRIN (Projects of National Interest).

Views
Bagnai has an ortodox Keynesian point of view close to economists like James Meade, Anthony Thirlwall, Martin Feldstein and according to which there are no structural justifications for Europe to adopt a single currency. In this context and in strong disagreement with other economists, he argues that the principle of convergence towards rigid parameters, as enshrined in the Maastricht Treaty, and subsequently taken up by the 1997 Stability and Growth Pact (SGP) and further reaffirmed in the 2012 European Fiscal Compact (also known as Fiscal Stability Treaty or TSCG), is logically incompatible with the sharing of a common political project, leading to a federal Europe, a prerequisite for the effective sustainability of a monetary union as opposed to separate national currencies.

At the same time, referring to the thought of Nicholas Kaldor, Bagnai argues that joining the euro and the resulting squeeze on exports, has had a negative impact on the productivity of the Italian economy. This view is disputed by economists such as Francesco Daveri, who instead sees the cause of the decline in productivity as lying in the way that Italy has failed to implement labor market reforms succesfully (a hypothesis originally advanced by Robert Gordon Bagnai theses are disputed by other economists, such as Michele Boldrin, who instead argues rather that the decline of the Italian economy results from errors and failings of the political class.

In 2013 Bagnai signed with other European economists of varying schools and political orientation like Frits Bolkestein, Hans-Olaf Henkel, Costas Lapavitsas, Jacques Sapir, Brigitte Granville the European Solidarity Manifesto that highlights the failure of the monetary integration project, and advocates its dismantling starting with the withdrawak from the monetary union of the most competitive countries - a point of view shared by economists such as Stefan Kawalec, Joseph Stiglitz and Luigi Zingales

Books
Alberto Bagnai is a well-known Italian writer of economics essays for the general public, and his publications in this area have enjoyed great sales success. His first book, Il tramonto dell'euro (2012) "The sunset of the Euro", was awarded the Literature Prize of the Economic and Financial Canova Club of 2013. The first success was followed by a second one at the end of 2014 with the publication of L'Italia può farcela "Italy can do it", which in a few months has climbed the sales charts, making it one of the best-selling books on economics in 2014.

Musical activity
Alberto Bagnai is also a musician, having earned the first level academic diploma as "Harpsichord Master" in 2008 at the Conservatory of Music "Santa Cecilia" in Rome and in 2010 a second level diploma in flute at the Conservatory Luisa D'Annunzio of Pescara. He plays the harpsichord in several musical ensembles and baroque orchestras (Collegium Pro Musica, Accademia Ottoboni, Musica Antiqua Latina) and currently is hia a member of the Italian cultural associations Musica Perduta and Capella Lodovicea. He is takes part in music festivals in Italy and abroad, including the San Gimignano Baroque Festival of 2009, 2010 e 2013; the Foligno exibitions “Segni barocchi” of 2011, 2012 e 2014 and “Musique et mémoire” concertos in Luxeuil-les-Bains (France) of 2013 and 2014. He recorded with the ensemble Musica Perduta the Francesco Maria Zuccari cello sonatas (Brilliant Classics, 94306) and some unpublished cantata of Georg Friedrich Händel (Brilliant Classics, 94426) and Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (Brilliant Classics, 94763).