The Quota 90 () was a controversial

revaluation Revaluation is a change in a price of a good or product, or especially of a currency, in which case it is specifically an official rise of the value of the currency in relation to a foreign currency in a fixed exchange rate system. In contrast, ...

of the

lira Lira is the name of several currency units. It is the current Turkish lira, currency of Turkey and also the local name of the Lebanese pound, currencies of Lebanon and of Syrian pound, Syria. It is also the name of several former currencies, ...

undertaken by Italian fascist dictator

Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who, upon assuming office as Prime Minister of Italy, Prime Minister, became the dictator of Fascist Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 un ...

, announced on August 18, 1926, at a speech in

Pesaro Pesaro (; ) is a (municipality) in the Italy, Italian region of Marche, capital of the province of Pesaro and Urbino, on the Adriatic Sea. According to the 2011 census, its population was 95,011, making it the second most populous city in the ...

, pegging the

exchange rate In finance, an exchange rate is the rate at which one currency will be exchanged for another currency. Currencies are most commonly national currencies, but may be sub-national as in the case of Hong Kong or supra-national as in the case of ...

to Lit. 92.46 to £1 stg (19 lire against the

US dollar The United States dollar (symbol: $; currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introduced the U.S. dollar at par with the Spanish silver dollar, divided it int ...

)Peter Neville. 2003. ''Mussolini''. Routledge. . p. 77. by December 1927, which had been the prevailing market rate when Mussolini took power in 1922.George Holmes. 2001. ''The Oxford Illustrated History of Italy''. Oxford University Press. . p. 275. The Quota has been described as the "most controversial measure undertaken by ussolini'sgovernment before 1929", despite the general consensus that some revaluation was necessary among Italian bankers and industrialists.Alexander De Grand. 2000. ''Italian Fascism: Its Origins and Development''. University of Nebraska Press. . p. 60-62. Minister of Finance Giuseppe Volpi—who preferred a rate of 120, or 125,Franklin Hugh Adler. 1995. ''Italian Industrialists from Liberalism to Fascism''. Cambridge University Press. . p. 353. against the pound—considered the quota a drastic overvaluation. Many historians regard the Quota as motivated by Mussolini's desire to "exert his will" rather than economic rationality, as a "political decision", or as a "proof of force" against industrialists.De Felice. ''Mussolini il fascista''. 2:223, 239-243, 282. In response to requests from Volpi and industrialists to reconsider the Quota, Mussolini threatened even lower rates. An August 8, 1926, letter from Mussolini to Volpi claimed that "the fate of the regime is tied to the lira".De Felice. "I lineamenti politici della 'quanta novanta.'" p. 379. The revaluation led to a massive increase in

merger Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of a company, business organization, or one of their operating units is transferred to or consolidated with another entity. They may happen through direct absorpt ...

s in 1928 and 1929, beginning a process of industrial consolidation which culminated in 1932 with .88% of corporations (144) controlling 51.7% of corporate capital. The Quota was accompanied by industrial and agricultural wage reductions in 1927, which overcompensated for the reduction in prices, decreasing the real wage and thus the

purchasing power Purchasing power refers to the amount of products and services available for purchase with a certain currency unit. For example, if you took one unit of cash to a store in the 1950s, you could buy more products than you could now, showing that th ...

of most Italians;

unemployment Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is the proportion of people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for work du ...

also rose, especially in the agricultural South.

References

{{Reflist Economic history of Italy Italian fascism

See also

References