Introduction

Deeply rooted in a French political tradition, economic expertise is expressed in both widespread and diverse ways. One general feature that has remained persistent is undoubtedly its strong yet complex and shifting relationship with the state: economic expertise has remained largely public. As in other western countries, market mechanisms at both the macroeconomic and microeconomic levels now play a greater role in public policy. Economic experts, however, still primarily work within or, increasingly, with national and transnational public bureaucracies. Although there is a greater reference to markets, economic expertise has remained strongly connected to bureaucratic action.

In this chapter, we analyse three different periods which characterise different historical configurations. We examine the role of French economists in the state at different levels; although their role was rather national at the outset, it has become more international and transnational in recent times. In the post-war decades, economic expertise was mainly developed within the state and promoted either a micro or macroeconomic state-centred approach. French engineer-economists were trained in Grandes Écoles and employed as civil servants in the administration where they acted as experts. They played an important role in the monetary and fiscal policy at the national level, that is, in macroeconomics. They were also key players at the sectoral level and participated in the early development of health economics, in close interaction with national planning (Benamouzig, 2005). The case of health is a particularly good test of the sectoral variations in a broader process because it was long perceived as resistant to economic reasoning. From the 1970s, the academicisation and internationalisation of economics developed following a clear shift toward microeconomic reasoning. Moreover, the influence of pro-market expertise in the public sphere – at both the national and sectoral level – also increased, as evidenced by the aborted project of privatisation of the French healthcare system. Finally, the reinforced internationalisation of economic expertise in recent times has paved the way for pro-market policies. The international spread of economic ideas in public decision-making has also developed alongside the rise of new technical bureaucracies devoted to economic expertise. At the transnational level, this new economic bureaucracy has expanded and now covers both national policies and international bodies.