Fundamental choices
From 1947 onward, fundamental economic decisions were guided by planning, making it unlikely that the success of French trade after 1958 can be attributed solely to a continuous short-term policy “miracle.” The Third Plan emp…
The plan and stabilization policy
It remains to highlight the contradictions that emerged between the objectives of development planning (the Fourth Plan and later the Fifth Plan) and stabilization policy. It now appears evident that, in seeking to achieve in…
Market economy policies
Implementing this type of policy is not easy within a market economy, even when there is a genuine political will to do so. It is also important to consider the difficulties currently faced by the French plan, whose objective…
Planning and Growth
Beyond cyclical difficulties and the imbalances encountered by the French economy along its path, since 1950 the overall results can be considered satisfactory. With an average annual GDP growth rate of around 4.5%, France ra…
French plans: the second plan
The need to increase the productivity of enterprises, improve professional training, and organize markets was strongly emphasized. Global objectives were established: national output was expected to grow by 25 percent and ind…
The evolution of production
Agricultural production
Despite the failures of monetary policy, production increased fairly rapidly between 1945 and 1949. This recovery did not occ…
The consequences of the failure of the Gold Exchange Standard and of the world depression
In order to safeguard exchange-rate stability, France, England, and the United States signed an agreement on September 25, and Holland joined the agreement in November 1936. Shortly before that, the price of gold had been fix…
The conditions of failure
After the crash of the New York Stock Exchange in 1929, the depression spread rapidly and Great Britain was unable to escape its advance. Wholesale prices fell by 25 percent between 1929 and 1931, while unemployment, which re…
Imperial preference and trade agreements
Within the members of the sterling area, a series of agreements were signed with the aim of encouraging trade. These initiatives led to the system known as “imperial preference” and to several trade agreement…
The stabilization of the franc (1926–1928)
The consequences of Britain’s return to the gold standard at the prewar parity were particularly unfavorable for the British economy, especially because France had previously devalued the franc, reducing the definition establ…