The theory of money in France since 1945

Abstract

While the most interesting contributions to the theory of money over the past thirty years have arguably been the work of British or Swedish economists, it would not be fair to pass over less striking ventures and fail to to point out the traditional subtlety and canniness of important papers by the Latins. The present article recapitulates the most important developments and contributions made by French economists to the theory of money since 1945. Two main points emerge from the analysis. The first is a general move away from a purely mechanistic version of the quantity theory, emphasising the importance of psychology in the determination of the value of money. The second is the conviction by the French that monetary authorities are capable of plotting a course for the national economy and influencing real factors comprised by it, and thus have an important role to play.

JEL: E40, E52, E58, B22