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| Jean Fourastié | |
|---|---|
| Name | Jean Fourastié |
| Birth date | 15 November 1907 |
| Birth place | Paris, France |
| Death date | 11 June 1990 |
| Death place | Paris, France |
| Occupation | Economist, Statistician, Engineer |
| Notable works | Les Trente Glorieuses |
Jean Fourastié was a French economist, statistician, and engineer best known for coining the term "Les Trente Glorieuses" to describe the post-World War II boom. He worked across École Polytechnique, École des Mines de Paris, Organisation for European Economic Co-operation, OECD, and influenced policymakers in France, United Kingdom, United States, West Germany through comparative analysis and policy advice.
Born in Paris in 1907, Fourastié studied at Lycée Louis-le-Grand, entered École Polytechnique and continued at École des Mines de Paris where he trained in engineering, mathematics, and applied sciences alongside contemporaries from École Normale Supérieure, Institut Pasteur, Collège de France. During his formative years he encountered intellectual currents from figures associated with École des Hautes Études Commerciales, École Nationale d'Administration, École Centrale Paris and absorbed influences traceable to scholars at Sorbonne University, Université de Paris and practitioners linked to Banque de France.
Fourastié's early career combined technical roles at Compagnie Française des Pétroles and statistical work for INSEE and the Ministry of Finance (France), later moving into international institutions including the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation and the OECD. He collaborated with economists and policymakers from John Maynard Keynes's circle, advisors connected to Winston Churchill, commentators tied to Charles de Gaulle, and statisticians influenced by Harold Hotelling, Simon Kuznets, and Jan Tinbergen. His professional network extended to academics at Harvard University, civil servants at Treasury (United Kingdom), consultants at McKinsey & Company, and international planners in World Bank and International Monetary Fund circles.
Fourastié formulated analyses of productivity, structural change, and sectoral shifts influenced by earlier work from Adam Smith, Karl Marx, Alfred Marshall and contemporaries like Arthur Lewis, Robert Solow, Paul Samuelson. He emphasized the tripartite division of activities into agricultural, industrial, and tertiary sectors paralleling discussions in W. Arthur Lewis and models debated at Cowles Commission. His concepts linked labor productivity growth to capital accumulation debates in forums at Bretton Woods Conference and to measurement debates influenced by Simon Kuznets and François Perroux. Fourastié argued that technological diffusion driven by firms akin to General Electric, Siemens, Ford Motor Company produced sustained welfare gains, influencing policy dialogues in OECD and legislative agendas in Assemblée nationale (France).
His signature book, Les Trente Glorieuses (title used in French discourse), synthesized demographic, industrial, and policy trends in postwar France, drawing on comparative tables similar to those in publications from INSEE, OECD reports, and scholarly journals like Econometrica, Journal of Political Economy, Revue économique. Other monographs and articles placed him alongside authors publishing with Presses Universitaires de France, Cambridge University Press, and contributors to conferences at Collège de France and World Economic Forum. His publications engaged with debates advanced by John Kenneth Galbraith, Milton Friedman, Friedrich Hayek and policy analysts from Plan Commission (France).
Fourastié's framing of the postwar boom influenced historians and policymakers studying Marshall Plan, European Coal and Steel Community, Treaty of Rome integration, and modernization programs in France and Western Europe. Historians in the tradition of Fernand Braudel, economists in the lineage of Alain Desrosières, and commentators linked to Le Monde and Le Figaro referenced his periodization when analyzing Trente Glorieuses debates. His work informed social policy discussions in Sécurité sociale (France), labor reforms debated in Confédération Générale du Travail, and education policies linked to Ministry of National Education (France). Universities including Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, Sciences Po, and École Polytechnique continue to discuss his contributions in courses that also examine thinkers such as Max Weber, Émile Durkheim, Raymond Aron.
Fourastié married and had family ties within French intellectual circles associated with École Normale Supérieure alumni and civil servants from Conseil d'État (France). He received distinctions from institutions like Ordre national du Mérite and recognition from academic societies comparable to Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques and awards referenced by Institut de France. He died in Paris in 1990, leaving an archive consulted by researchers at Bibliothèque nationale de France, INSEE and academic centers at Université de Lorraine and Université de Rouen.
Category:French economists Category:1907 births Category:1990 deaths