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Jean Fourastié (; 15 April 190725 July 1990) was a French
civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...
,
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 ...
,
professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...
and
public intellectual An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and Human self-reflection, reflection about the nature of reality, especially the nature of society and proposed solutions for its normative problems. Coming from the wor ...
. He coined the expression '' Trente Glorieuses'' ("the glorious thirty ears) to describe the period of prosperity that France experienced from the end of
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
until the
1973 oil crisis In October 1973, the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) announced that it was implementing a total oil embargo against countries that had supported Israel at any point during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, which began after Eg ...
.


Biography

Jean Fourastié received his elementary and secondary education at the private
Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
College of Juilly from 1914 to 1925. Then in Paris, he boarded at École Massillon and enrolled in classe préparatoire aux grandes écoles at Lycée Saint-Louis. He was admitted into
École Centrale Paris École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by Secondary education in France, secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing i ...
, from which he graduated in 1930, but was not attracted by an engineering career. Instead, he pursued studies at
École Libre des Sciences Politiques Sciences Po () or Sciences Po Paris, also known as the Paris Institute of Political Studies (), is a public research university located in Paris, France, that holds the status of ''grande école'' and the legal status of . The university's unde ...
where his professors included Charles Rist and . He received a law degree in 1933, followed by doctor of law In 1937 with a thesis on insurance supervision. In 1932, Fourastié successfully passed the examination to become an insurance supervisor for the French state (). He stayed two years at the , a low-level bureaucratic position, and in 1934 joined the , then part of the French Labor Ministry. He was instrumental in the adoption on of a mandatory accounting framework for insurance companies, France's first-ever attempt at accounting standard-setting. He would stay in the
civil service The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...
until 1951. During
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, Fourastié kept working for the state under
Vichy France Vichy France (; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was a French rump state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II, established as a result of the French capitulation after the Battle of France, ...
, while keeping distance from direct collaboration with Germany's Nazi regime. In January 1941, he started giving a course on
insurance Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to protect ...
at the
Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers The (; ; abbr. CNAM) is an AMBA-accredited French ''grande école'' and '' grand établissement''. It is a member of the '' Conférence des Grandes écoles'', which is an equivalent to the Ivy League schools in the United States, Oxbridge in th ...
(CNAM), replacing his ministry colleague Maxime Malinski who was Jewish and thus had been victim of the 1940 Vichy anti-Jewish legislation. Fourastié's course met instant success with CNAM students. He also taught general accounting at
École Libre des Sciences Politiques Sciences Po () or Sciences Po Paris, also known as the Paris Institute of Political Studies (), is a public research university located in Paris, France, that holds the status of ''grande école'' and the legal status of . The university's unde ...
between 1941 and 1943. In early 1942 he briefly served in the (private office) of Vichy Finance Minister Yves Bouthillier. In 1941 and 1943, he participated in the committee chaired by Auguste Detœuf that created France's General Accounting Framework (), itself largely modeled on the German accounting framework of 1937 championed by
Hermann Göring Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering; ; 12 January 1893 â€“ 15 October 1946) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician, aviator, military leader, and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which gov ...
. In September–October 1944, the ad hoc body that investigated acts of collaboration () cleared Fourastié of any charges, following a process in which Malinski defended Fourastié's innocence. Fourastié then taught at the newly created
École nationale d'administration The (; ENA; ) was a French ''grande école'', created in 1945 by the then Provisional Government of the French Republic, provisional chief of government Charles de Gaulle and principal co-author of the Constitution of France, 1958 Constitution M ...
and played an enhanced role in the renewed committee chaired from 1946 by Robert Lacoste. In 1945, Jean Monnet hired him to serve as an economic advisor on the Commissariat général du Plan, serving the country's economic reconstruction under the direct authority of the
Prime Minister of France The prime minister of France (), officially the prime minister of the French Republic (''Premier ministre de la République française''), is the head of government of the French Republic and the leader of its Council of Ministers. The prime ...
. He served four terms as president of the workforce modernization commission, and in 1961 he was chosen as a member of the "1985 working group" of the ''Commissariat.'' In 1948, Fourastié became vice president of the scientific and technical committee of the European Economic Cooperation Organization (predecessor of the
OECD The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; , OCDE) is an international organization, intergovernmental organization with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and international trade, wor ...
). From 1954 to 1957, he led the
European Coal and Steel Community The European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) was a European organization created after World War II to integrate Europe's coal and steel industries into a single common market based on the principle of supranationalism which would be governe ...
's study group on the conditions and effects of technical progress in the steel industry. In 1957 he was appointed as a
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...
expert for the Mexican government and to the economic commission for
Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...
. Fourastié was a professor at the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris until his retirement in 1978. He became professor (Directeur d'études) at the VIth section of the
École Pratique des Hautes Études École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * Éco ...
(later EHESS) in 1951, and from 1960 he held the
chair A chair is a type of seat, typically designed for one person and consisting of one or more legs, a flat or slightly angled seat and a back-rest. It may be made of wood, metal, or synthetic materials, and may be padded or upholstered in vario ...
of Economics and Industrial Statistics at CNAM. In 1966, Fourastié became a columnist for the daily newspaper ''
Le Figaro () is a French daily morning newspaper founded in 1826. It was named after Figaro, a character in several plays by polymath Pierre Beaumarchais, Beaumarchais (1732–1799): ''Le Barbier de Séville'', ''The Guilty Mother, La Mère coupable'', ...
''. Until 1968 he presented the monthly program "Quart d'heure" ("quarter hour") on French state television. In 1968, he was elected to the
Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...
, and became its president in 1978. In 1981, he was named president of the central administrative commission of the Institut de France.


Publications

* ''Le Contrôle de l'État sur les sociétés d'assurances''. Paris, Faculté de Droit, 1937, 275 p. * ''Le Nouveau Régime juridique et technique de l'assurance en France''. Paris, L'Argus, 1941, 282 p. * ''La Comptabilité''. Paris, Presses Universitaires de France, 1943, 128 p. Coll. Que sais-je? () * '. Paris, Librairie générale de droit et de jurisprudence, 1944, 271 p. * ''L'Économie française dans le monde'', avec la collaboratioun de Henri Montet. Paris, Presses universitaires de France, 1945, 136 p., Coll. Que sais-je ? n° 191 * ''Les Assurances au point de vue économique et social''. Paris, Payot, 1946, 132 p. (Bibliothèque économique). * ''Esquisse d'une théorie générale de l'évolution économique contemporaine'', Paris, Presses Universitaires de France, 1947, 32 p. * ''Note sur la philosophie des sciences'', Paris, Presses Universitaires de France, 1948, 36 p. * ''Le Grand Espoir du XXe siècle. Progrès technique, progrès économique, progrès social''. Paris, Presses Universitaires de France, 1949, 224 p. - Réed 1989 collection Tel Gallimard * ''La Civilisation de 1960''. Paris, Presses universitaires de France, 1947. 120 p. (Coll. Que sais-je ? n° 279). Ed. remaniée en 1953 sous le titre : La Civilisation de 1975, en 1974, sous le titre : La Civilisation de 1995 et en 1982 sous le titre : La Civilisation de 2001. 11e éd. : 1982. * ''Le progrès technique et l'évolution économique'', Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris, Paris, les cours de Droit (deux fascicules), 1951–52, 249 p. * ''Machinisme et bien-être''. Paris, Ed. de Minuit, 1951, 256 p. (Coll. l'Homme et la machine, dirigée par Georges Friedmann, n° 1), translated in English : ''The causes of wealth'', The Free Press of Glencoe, Illinois, 1960. * ''La Productivité'' Paris, Presses universitaires de France, 1952, 120 p. (Coll. Que sais-je ? n° 557). (11e éd. : 1987) () * ''La prévision économique et la direction des entreprises''. Paris, Presses universitaires de France, 1955, 152 p. * ''Productivity, prices et wages'', Paris, O.E.C.E., 1957, 115 p. * ''Pourquoi nous travaillons''. Paris, Presses universitaires de France, 1959, 128 p. (Coll. Que sais-je ? n° 818). (8e éd. : 1984). (Traduit en espagnol, japonais, allemand, portugais, grec) (). * ''La Grande Métamorphose du XXe siècle''. Essais sur quelques problèmes de l'humanité d'aujourd'hui. Paris, Presses universitaires de France, 1961, 224 p. * ''La Planification économique en France'', avec la collaboration de Jean-Paul Courthéoux. Paris, Presses universitaires de France, 1963, 208 p. (Coll. L'organisateur) * ''Les Conditions de l'esprit scientifique''. Paris, Gallimard, 1966, 256 p. (Coll. Idées n° 96). * ''Les 40 000 heures''. Paris, Gonthier-Laffont, 1965. 247 p. (Coll. Inventaire de l'avenir n°1). * ''Essais de morale prospective''. Paris, Gonthier ; 1966, 200 p. * ''Lettre ouverte à quatre milliards d'hommes''. Paris, A. Michel, 1970, 167 p. (Coll. Lettre ouverte) * ''Prévision, futurologie, prospective'', Cours de l'Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris. 1973–74. Paris, Les cours de droit, 1974, 113 p. (ronéoté). * '' L'Église a-t-elle trahi ?'' Dialogue entre Jean Fourastié et René Laurentin. Paris, Beauchesne, 1974, 192 p. * ''Pouvoir d'achat, prix et salaires'', avec la collaboration de Jacqueline Fourastié. Paris, Gallimard, 1977, 223 p. (Coll. Idées n° 374). * ''La réalité économique. Vers la révision des idées dominantes en France'', avec la collaboration de Jacqueline Fourastié, Paris, R. Laffont, 1978, 365 p. (Réédité en 1986, Paris, Hachette, 423 p. Coll. Pluriel n° 8488) . * ''Les Trente Glorieuses, ou la révolution invisible de 1946 à 1975'', Paris, Fayard, 1979, 300 p. (Rééd Hachette Pluriel n° 8363) (). * ''Ce que je crois'', Paris, Grasset, 1981. * ''Le Rire, suite'', Paris, Denoël-Gonthier, 1983 * ''Pourquoi les prix baissent'', avec la collaboration de Béatrice Bazil, Paris, Hachette, 1984, 320 p. (Coll. Pluriel n° 8390).fourastie-sauvy.org bibliographie fourastie
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See also

* Three-sector hypothesis * Evolution of stamp prices in France


Notes and references

The information on this page is partially translated from the equivalent page in French :fr:Jean Fourastié licensed under the Creative Commons/Attribution Sharealik

History of contributions can be checked her


External links


Comité Jean Fourastié
* J. Fourastié (1994), Jean Fourastié entre Deux Mondes: Mémoires en Forme de Dialogues avec sa Fille Jacqueline (Posthumous book in collaboration with J. Fourastié and B. Bazil), Beauchesne Edteur, Paris
G.J. Hospers (2003), Fourastié's foresight after fifty years, Foresight: The Journal of Future Studies, Strategic Thinking and Policy, 5 (2), pp. 11–14
* Alain Alcouffe, David Le Bris, Technical Progress and Structural Change in Jean Fourastié’s Theory of Development, October 2019, History of Political Economy 52(1):101-133. DOI: 10.1215/00182702-8009547 {{DEFAULTSORT:Fourastie, Jean 1907 births 1990 deaths People from Nièvre French historians Economic historians École Centrale Paris alumni Members of the Académie des sciences morales et politiques 20th-century French economists