Mailing address
Not in Residence
Pierpaolo Barbieri
Ernest May Fellow in History and Policy, International Security Program
Contact:
Email: pierpaolo_barbieri@hks.harvard.edu
Experience
Originally from Buenos Aires, Argentina, Pierpaolo studied at Harvard University, where he did research with the support of the Weatherhead Center for International Studies, the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, and the Real Colegio Complutense. His senior thesis, part of which appeared in Tempus, the Harvard College Historical Journal, was awarded a Thomas Hoopes '14 prize. Later, Pierpaolo was a Lt. Charles Henry Fiske III Harvard-Cambridge scholar at Trinity College, Cambridge University, where he obtained an M.Phil. in Economic and Social History and was a research fellow at the Centre for History and Economics.
His first book, Hitler's Shadow Empire: Nazi Economics and the Spanish Civil War will be published by Harvard University Press in 2013. On the 75th anniversary of the war, it explores the economics of Nazi Germany in the midst of the monetary wars of the 1930s Depression and the shipwreck of globalization. The book seeks to elucidate what the economic model implied for Hitler's first true military intervention — his decisive support for dictator-to-be Francisco Franco and his Nationalists. It argues the Nazis sought to create an informal empire in Spain to profit from the economic dislocations created by the civil war in an attempt to extend power in Europe in a radically different way than the formal empire that they sought in World War II.
His current project is on informal empire in Latin America, focusing on financial history and U.S.–Latin American relations.
Pierpaolo has worked for Goldman Sachs and Soros Fund Management, and his writing has been featured in the the New Republic and the Weekly Standard, among others.
June 3, 2013
"The E.U.'s Feeble War on Unemployment"
Op-Ed, New York Times
By Niall Ferguson, Member of the Board, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and Pierpaolo Barbieri, Ernest May Fellow in History and Policy, International Security Program
"Banking regulation may not be the most voter-friendly topic. Yet the reality is that the best way to create employment in the periphery is by ending the fragmentation of the financial system that continues to plague Europe. As long as Greek, Portuguese, Spanish or Italian entrepreneurs need to pay a premium of between 4 and 6 percent above what their German counterparts pay on bank loans, how can they possibly start new businesses?"
January 22, 2013
"Italian Yields Began to Fall as Soon as Berlusconi was Ousted"
Op-Ed, Financial Times, Letter to the Editor
By Pierpaolo Barbieri, Ernest May Fellow in History and Policy, International Security Program
"To argue that 'Mr Monti promised reform and ended up raising taxes' is to grossly misunderstand an imperfect but positive labour reform, pension changes and progress on competitiveness, tax evasion and corruption."
November 20, 2012
"Don't Waste Draghi"
Op-Ed
By Pierpaolo Barbieri, Ernest May Fellow in History and Policy, International Security Program
European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi's Outright Monetary Transactions (OMT) gives the populists' opponents a new weapon: support while structural reform takes hold. As he implied on Thursday, purchases are rewards for the countries implementing good reforms. Conversely, the ECB can stop OMT if it judges national policies to be "deserving" of punitive rates. Draghi should not hesitate to use this power to preserve credibility: while monetary policy operates within democracy, it is not itself be democratic.
October 13, 2012
"Why Europe Deserved the Peace Prize"
Op-Ed, CNN.com
By Pierpaolo Barbieri, Ernest May Fellow in History and Policy, International Security Program
"With all its imperfections, Europe today is the largest single market in the world, featuring effective anti-trust regulations, curtailing economic nationalism, and promoting free trade agreements with counties as far away as Asia and Latin America. New potential members are eager to join, from booming Turkey to crisis-ridden Iceland. Despite all the talk of stalling, Turkish membership will eventually come to pass."
October 9, 2012
"En el Mundo, Pero Fuera de Él"
Op-Ed, El Pais
By Pierpaolo Barbieri, Ernest May Fellow in History and Policy, International Security Program
"La radicalización económica de este tercer Gobierno kirchnerista ha redoblado el control estatista en materia de comercio exterior e industria, tratando de reemplazar la iniciativa privada con fuerza estatal."
August 24, 2012
"El Autoritarismo Económico en Argentina"
Op-Ed, El Pais
By Pierpaolo Barbieri, Ernest May Fellow in History and Policy, International Security Program
El aislamiento no es sostenible. La libertad es más eficiente —y justa— que el estatalismo.
AP Photo
August 9, 2012
"A Lesson in Crony Capitalism"
Op-Ed, Wall Street Journal
By Pierpaolo Barbieri, Ernest May Fellow in History and Policy, International Security Program
"As the U.S. gears up for an important presidential election, Argentina is a sad reminder of how crony capitalism is the enemy of genuine development."
AP Photo
May 31, 2012
"The Pain in Spain That Threatens the Eurozone"
Magazine or Newspaper Article, CNN.com
By Tim Lister and Pierpaolo Barbieri, Ernest May Fellow in History and Policy, International Security Program
Pierpaolo Barbieri, Ernest May Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center, says that "big, international banks like Santander and BVA are well diversified. Of the others, quite a few need capital — but how much? That's the unknown and Bankia has undermined faith in financial reporting."
AP Photo
May 23, 2012
"Greeks Prefer Europe to its Own Politicians"
Op-Ed, CNN.com
By Pierpaolo Barbieri, Ernest May Fellow in History and Policy, International Security Program
"From the perspective of Brussels and Berlin, maddening though Athens may be, there is no alternative but to double down on Greece — because a Greek exit would have huge ripple effects through all the Mediterranean economies (and their banking systems). More importantly, structural reform is still worth pursuing — opening up the professions, reforming the public sector, and liberalizing an economy that only benefits insiders are laudable goals."
AP Photo
May 2, 2012
"Merkel Can Achieve Fiscal Union in Europe"
Op-Ed, Financial Times
By Niall Ferguson, Member of the Board, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and Pierpaolo Barbieri, Ernest May Fellow in History and Policy, International Security Program
"Europe's monetary union is neither the joint checking account of a dysfunctional family nor a latter-day gold standard. It was always meant to be a staging post on the road to a federal Europe. Today the biggest threat to its survival is no longer the economic consequences of austerity; it is the political consequences, in the form of populist, anti-European, usually xenophobic fringe parties. Almost everywhere but Germany, such parties are gaining support."
