Bernard Walliser

Cognitive Economics

This book should help readers gain a greater understanding of economic reasoning and rationality. It shows how a period of study and apprenticeship can improve the otherwise limited rationality of economic decisions-makers, how to co-ordinate the various actors’ expectations in a given situation, and how speculation results from the circulation of the opinions of the economic decision-makers. Bernard Walliser teaches economics at the Ecole des Ponts et Chaussées.

Amartya Sen

Identity and Violence

Didier Lombard

The Irresistible Ascension Of Digital Europe and the rest of the world

What are Europe’s advantages in the digital race against Asia and the U.S.? And what is at stake?

Laurent Cohen-Tanugi

Backlash The West in the Post-Cold War Period

Robert Boyer

General Theory of Capitalism is it possible?

Robert Boyer is a leading figure of the “regulationist” school of economics, which believes that capitalism requires external, political, monetary and social regulations, and that the capitalist economy cannot be reduced to the self-regulating laws of the market. In this book, he proposes a general theory of capitalism, from two angles. First of all, he argues that there are several models of capitalism - not just one. America's ultra-liberal capitalism is unlike German capitalism, which is characterised by the fusion between banks and businesses, just as it is unlike French state-interventionist capitalism and Japan's capitalism of consensus. Secondly, in order to understand how capitalism works, every aspect has to be considered - not just the market but also political and social institutions (the State, central banks, unions, etc.) and the conventions they create among themselves (salary agreements, etc.). Robert Boyer is a research fellow at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, a director of studies at the Ecole des Haute Etudes en Sciences Sociales and a member of the French prime minister's Council for Economic Analysis.

Jean-Paul Betbèze

French people's economic fear

France has economic possibilities, but it remains blocked in several areas. Although the country's leaders are aware of this, they seem unable to make the necessary reforms to move forward. France seems to be the prey of fears that paralyse it, but which have benefited a new class of economic as well as social rentiers who constitute a powerful economic, ideological and political group. These new rentiers are fully cognisant that the defence of their acquired privileges is not a practical long-term solution - as has been shown by rising deficits, decreased competitiveness and job losses. The author argues that it is necessary to make changes and implement reforms - and to do so it is essential to understand and overcome existing fears. It cannot be expected that everything will be changed at once, but some initial efforts must be made. The single reform that will “fix” everything does not exist, he says, but this is hardly an excuse for refusing to make a start. In other countries, programmes for economic reform are being implemented. Yet France is only beginning to consider such reforms. The object of this book is to provide a greater understanding of the present situation, in the form of a “how-to” manual. A ruthless analysis of some of France's psychological blocks, apprehensions and economic fears, this book can be regarded as a sort of “economic psychotherapy”. In addition, the author provides a critique of the false solutions that hinder modernisation and proposes his own solutions for change and reform. Jean-Paul Betbèze is a professor of economics at the University of Paris Panthéon-Assas and a member of the French prime minister's Council for Economic Analysis. He is a consultant to the president and the C.E.O. of a major bank and the author of Les Dix Commandements de la finance, which was awarded the Risques-Les Echos Prize in 2004.

Bertrand Fragonard

In Defence of Social Protection

Does the French Social Security system overspend? In the context of the economic crisis and the need to master public spending...

Frank Dangeard

Crisis Decision-Making in Businesses 12 Tales of Governance

Based on his extensive experience as a manager and administrator, and illustrated with numerous examples from recent business history...