Marcel Boiteux (9 May 1922 – 6 September 2023) was a French economist, mathematician, and senior civil service member. He was the "architect of the French nuclear program" that created 61 nuclear reactors and kept the French electricity sector less carbon-intensive than other European countries (save Iceland). Boiteux joined

Électricité de France Électricité de France S.A. (literally ''Electricity of France''), commonly known as EDF, is a French multinational electric utility company, largely owned by the French state. Headquartered in Paris, with €71.2 billion in revenues in 2 ...

(EDF) in 1949 as a student of

Maurice Allais Maurice Félix Charles Allais (31 May 19119 October 2010) was a French physicist and economist, the 1988 winner of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences "for his pioneering contributions to the theory of markets and efficient utilization o ...

and remained there for the rest of his career. In 1959, Marcel Boiteux became the President of the Econometric Society. From 1967 through 1987, he was the director of EDF. He theorized and implemented the price of electricity at marginal cost, and was one of the architects of France's nuclear industry development. His journey illuminates a social environment (that of scientists and senior civil services), a research process (marginal cost), a large company and its strategy, public sector career and power mechanisms, State-public-company relations, and decision-making processes on important issues such as nuclear policy.

Early life

Marcel Boiteux was born in

Niort Niort (; Poitevin: ''Niàu''; oc, Niòrt; la, Novioritum) is a commune in the Deux-Sèvres department, western France. It is the prefecture of Deux-Sèvres. The population of Niort is 58,707 (2017) and more than 177,000 people live in the ...

on 9 May 1922. He graduated from the Ecole Normale in 1942 and received his mathematics aggregation in 1946. In 1947, he also graduated, in the economics section, from the Institute of Political Studies in Paris.

Career

His professional career began in 1946 when he entered the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), under the responsibility of

and having Gérard Debreu as a colleague. Boiteux joined EDF on 1 April 1949 as an engineer in the sales department on Allais' recommendation. Boiteux turned 100 on 9 May 2022, and died on 6 September 2023, at the age of 101.

Recognition

On 14 December 1992, he was elected to the chair left vacant by Émile James' death in the Academy of Moral and Political Sciences.

Works

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Boiteux, Marcel 1922 births 2023 deaths French centenarians People from Niort French economists Presidents of the Econometric Society Members of the Académie des sciences morales et politiques Men centenarians Grand Officers of the Legion of Honour Grand Cross of the Ordre national du Mérite Recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1939–1945 (France)