Did French economists ask for inflation to reduce public debt at the end of World War II?

Matéo Teixeira

The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, 2025, vol. 32, issue 1, 58-84

Abstract: The rapid public debt decrease at the end of World War II is regularly analysed as being the result of inflationary policies initiated by governments. This policy is said to be based on economic thinking that is less virulent towards inflation than during the interwar period. This article seeks to question this view by presenting a relatively unknown debate among French economists. By highlighting out two confidential studies made by the Institut de conjoncture, it shows that a minority of French economists developed a framework in which the call for inflation to reduce debt is well founded.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1080/09672567.2024.2433956

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