TITLE:
The Contribution of Maurice Allais to Contemporary Macroeconomics: From French Planning to National Accounting
AUTHORS:
Arnaud Diemer
KEYWORDS:
Macroeconomics, Money, National Accounting, Planning, State
JOURNAL NAME:
Theoretical Economics Letters,
Vol.10 No.2,
April
23,
2020
ABSTRACT: __kindeditor_temp_url__If the history of macroeconomics is still
largely associated with John Maynard Keynes’ masterpiece, The General Theory of
Employment, Interest and Money (Keynes, 1936), macronomics also includes a
branch of economics which has gained recognition through the use of
mathematical models, the notion of general equilibrium, the development of an
empirical basis (applied economics), and the evaluation of the effects of
economic policy. These elements of macroeconomic theory are found in Maurice
Allais’ work, mainly his Théorie du rendement social (Allais, 1946) and his
Fondements comptables de la macroéconomie (Allais, 1954). In the aftermath of
the Second World War, Allais was able to use a corpus composed of a theory—the
Walrasian General Equilibrium, a doctrine—competitive planning, an empirical
basis—his work on national accounting and economic policy prescriptions, “la
planification à la francaise” and monetary dynamics. This work, combined with
the development of national statistics and national accounting, highlights the
French tradition of economic thinking and reminds us, that in the history of
economic thought, the Keynesian precepts took some time to “colonize” the minds
of French economists.