The Governor of the Central Bank of the Netherlands, Klaas Knot, spoke to an Odeon packed out with seven hundred Italian secondary school students, all guest of this \u201cYoung Factor\u201d event promoted by the Osservatorio Permanente Giovani \u2013 Editori, chaired by Andrea Ceccherini, and supported by Intesa Sanpaolo, Monte dei Paschi di Siena and UniCredit. This meeting served as merely a continuation of the Osservatorio\u2019s long standing commitment to civil and social improvement through increased economic and financial literacy among students.<\/p>\n
This particular cycle of meetings can boast the Governor of the Bank of Italy, Ignazio Visco, Jean-Claude Trichet, former President of the European Central Bank, and the Governor of the Deutsche Bundesbank, Jens Weidmann, among its previous speakers. \u2018Young Factor\u2019 is currently the leading economic and financial literacy initiative in the country due to the number of students enrolled from Italian secondary schools. In the 2015\/16 academic year, a record 500,207 students were enrolled from Italian high schools, a remarkable figure when one takes into account the age of this project. In the course of his introductory remarks at the conference, the president of the Osservatorio Permanente Giovani-Editori, Andrea Ceccherini, stressed that \u201cthere is a direct relationship between financial stability on the one hand and economic and financial literacy on the other. When one is increased so is the other, and when economic and financial awareness is lower, crises are stronger. Is it a coincidence\u201d, asked Ceccherini, \u201cthat the countries in Europe with the weakest economic and financial culture were the hardest hit by crisis? It\u2019s likely that there is an inversely proportional relationship between the two: with less culture comes more crises.\u201d As he continued his speech, Ceccherini pointed out that \u201cthe cost of economic and financial ignorance is a great one to our country. We need to react courageously and oppose ignorance with more education. All this is what forms our goal- to instruct the younger generations in financial economics, and thus make them more competitive and leave the crisis behind us as soon as possible.\u201d.<\/p>\n
The meeting, led by the director of the Quotidiano Nazionale Andrea Cangini, saw the governor of the Dutch central bank spurred on by questions from both Cangini and the students, dealing with various topics: Europe, the Euro, the global crisis of 2008, the outward image that Italy and Italians project, the Northern European situation, and the need for greater and financial education of our youth. \u201cIn Europe\u201d, said Klaas Knot, \u201cthere is a financial and economic difference between the countries in the north of the continent and those in the south. However, Italy especially can play on a wealth of diversity. Italy has world-renowned brands, creative ability, and unique manufacturing design. This Italian wealth is thus competitive at an international level.\u201d Turning to the youngsters present from schools up and down the country, Knot strongly emphasised that \u201c\u2018economic and financial understanding is the key to developing an informed view. It\u2019s knowledge that will be concretely useful during your lifetimes, whether it\u2019s when you will purchase your first car or your first house, when you make your first investments and when you have to understand where to put your money. Something that you may have already begun to reap benefits from now as you are starting to have money of your own. A good economic and financial education is without doubt an important factor for general financial stability and is itself the foundation for responsible financial growth. For this reason, I believe that initiatives such as \u2018Young Factor\u2019, together with the Osservatorio\u2019s other work, are really important for the development of younger generations.\u201d.<\/p>\n