Michel Albert (; 25 February 1930 – 19 March 2015) was a French

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

. He was born in

Fontenay-le-Comte Fontenay-le-Comte (; Poitevin: ''Funtenaes'' or ''Fintenè'') is a commune and subprefecture in the Vendée department in the Pays de la Loire region of Western France. In 2018, it had a population of 13,302, while its functional area had a popu ...

Vendée Vendée (; br, Vande) is a department in the Pays de la Loire region in Western France, on the Atlantic coast. In 2019, it had a population of 685,442.

and was the Permanent Secretary of the

Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, f ...

since 1 January 2005.

Biography

Michel Albert graduated from the

Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris , motto_lang = fr , mottoeng = Roots of the Future , type = Public research university''Grande école'' , established = , founder = Émile Boutmy , accreditation ...

and is an alumnus of the

École Nationale d'Administration The École nationale d'administration (generally referred to as ENA, en, National School of Administration) was a French ''grande école'', created in 1945 by President of France, President Charles de Gaulle and principal author of the Constitu ...

. He became an inspector of finance in 1956. He was Chairman of the Board and CEO of Assurances Générales de France (AGF) between 1982 and 1994. From 1990 to 1993 he was president of the International Christian Union of Business Executives or

UNIAPAC The International Christian Union of Business Executives or UNIAPAC is an ecumenical organization for Christian businesspeople. History The predecessors of the organization were national federations of Catholic employers in The Netherlands in 191 ...

On March 28, 1994, he was elected to the Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques to the chair left vacant by the death of Henri Guitton. President of the Academy in 2004. Permanent Secretary for 2005-2010. In 2009 he was decorated with the Grand Cross of the National Order of Merit.Décret du 13 novembre 2009
/ref> He married Claude Albert (née Balland). He has four sons, Jean-Marc, Eric, Pierre-Emmanuel and Christopher and is the grandfather of nine children. In his 1991 book ''Capitalisme contre Capitalisme'',Michel Albert.
Capitalism Against Capitalism
'. Whurr; 1993. . Michel Albert coined the term "

Rhine capitalism The social market economy (SOME; german: soziale Marktwirtschaft), also called Rhine capitalism, Rhine-Alpine capitalism, the Rhenish model, and social capitalism, is a socioeconomic model combining a free-market capitalist economic system alon ...

" and warned, "The largest banks know, however, that they are literally '

too big to fail "Too big to fail" (TBTF) and "too big to jail" is a theory in banking and finance that asserts that certain corporations, particularly financial institutions, are so large and so interconnected that their failure would be disastrous to the great ...

' and can count on a helping hand from government if the worst comes to the worst.... Thus, in yet another intriguing but ominous irony of history, 10 years of ultra-liberalism have resulted in a US financial system whose future may only be assured with the help of federal government handouts."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Albert, Michel 1930 births 2015 deaths French Roman Catholics French chief executives People from Fontenay-le-Comte Members of the Académie des sciences morales et politiques Sciences Po alumni École nationale d'administration alumni 20th-century French economists