During the recent financial crisis, the Federal Reserve and other policymakers throughout the government took unprecedented actions to preserve the financial system and the flow of credit to consumers and businesses. Now, even though the crisis is subsiding, the level of credit outstanding continues to decline.
Tommaso was not an academic economist. He had a special gift for using insights from theoretical economics to challenge received ideas and established practices. At the same time, he challenged academic economists to go beyond simplistic behavioural assumptions and to take the role of institutions fully into account.