Is There a French School of Agricultural Economics?

Abstract

The particular history of French agriculture and the general intellectual environment in France have given the agricultural economics profession in that country a specific character which, in spite of many internal controversies, is illustrated by common beliefs about agriculture and common attitudes regarding research approaches contrasting with that of the profession in many other countries, including Britain. After the second world war, the development of agricultural economics was marked by the demise of ‘ruralism’, an ideology of agrarian fundamentalism, and its replacement by ‘productivism’, an ideology emphasizing economic growth and based on a simplified neo‐classical paradigm. The surge of Marxism and dissatisfaction with the results of the policies advocated by the productivists led to a questioning of that paradigm. As a result, major hypotheses, theoretical issues, and concepts too often taken for granted in France and elsewhere should be re‐examined.

Rural municipalities in the context of the provisions of rural economics

“…Economics was created at the Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA) in 1955 (Petit, 1982). A European Association of Agricultural Economists was founded in 1975 in Uppsala, Sweden.…”