French Planning in Theory and Practice

First published in 1983, French Planning in Theory and Practice (now with a new preface by the authors) provides the first detailed account since the late 1960’s of the French system of economic planning, and its relevance for other market economies. It offers an original and non-technical rationale for planning in a market system and examines the decline in French planning, at a time when the new government was attempting to extend the traditional planning system.

The initial theoretical part of the book is primarily addressed to economists. It reviews the literature on indicative planning and argues that it is severely deficient, above all in failing to take account of the implications of uncertainty on private decision-making. These problems have empirical relevance for the French experience, and lead to the proposal for a different form of planning, supplying co-ordination that would not be spontaneously forthcoming in the public or private sectors. The analysis goes beyond the scope of French planning and has policy relevance for all market economies.

Although written with the main analytic issues in mind, the remainder of the book stands independently as a comprehensive study of planning in France. It traces the gradual loosening of the links between policy making and planning in France and tries to draw the lessons from this experience for the practice of planning. The authors conclude that the type of planning that had seemed so successful in the 1960’s was simply no longer possible in the economic and political climate of the 1970’s, yet no real attempt was made to define an alternative role for the plan. The political and administrative authorities were happy to see planning fade. The arrival of the Socialist government offered great scope for the revival of the process, but the authors caution against supposing that political will was the only vital ingredient. The book is based on extensive interviews with planners, analysts, and decision-makers as well as on published and unpublished written and statistical sources.