Economic planning in France, overseen by the General Planning Commission (French: Commissariat Général du Plan), was initiated in 1946 under the leadership of Jean Monnet. It continued for nearly half a century, evolving through various approaches.
Origins and initial objectives The concept of economic planning in France did not emerge immediately after World War II. It was shaped by diverse political movements during the interwar period and contributed to the 1933 split between the SFIO and the PSdF, influenced by the planisme of Henri de Man, leader of the Belgian Labour Party. A minority within the SFIO, the Révolution constructive group, remained supportive of planisme.
In 1934, a proposed plan brought together politicians and trade unionists from varied political backgrounds, both left and right. Some historians note that the 1930s saw a proliferation of planning proposals, though none were implemented at the state level.
Jacques Sapir traces French planning back to World War I, when ammunition shortages and mass conscription necessitated organized economic management.
The Vichy regime's "Ten-Year Plan" The Vichy regime introduced the first state-led economic planning instruments in France, concurrent with similar discussions by the National Council of the Resistance's Comité Général d'Étude from 1942–1943 and the French Committee of National Liberation in Algiers in 1944. The Vichy regime established the Délégation Générale à l'Équipement National (DGEN). It adopted the principle of a plan (law of April 6, 1941). In May 1942, the DGEN presented a 600-page, ten-year plan for reconstruction, industrial and technological catch-up, and controlled urbanization. The plan avoided nationalization, with the state's role limited to stimulating, guiding, and financing private investment.
Achievements under the Vichy plan were modest. Notable projects included land development in Sologne and La Crau, early work on the Tancarville Bridge, the Tunnel de la Croix-Rousse in Lyon, and several hydroelectric dam projects.
Only the plan's two-year "initial phase" was launched, later adopted by the De Gaulle government in 1944. The DGEN, with much of its staff retained, served as the foundation for the future General Planning Commission.
Planning after 1945 Post-1945 French planning, managed by the Commissariat au Plan, was indicative and incentivizing, unlike Soviet planning. The General Planning Commission (CGP) relied on two forecasting bodies: Insee and the SEEF (Service des Études Économiques et Financières of the Ministry of Finance).
French planning was distinctive in several ways. It represented the state's most unique effort to steer the market. By setting quantitative or qualitative goals agreed upon by social partners, the plan guided investments toward priority sectors for growth. In this sense, it acted as a "reducer of uncertainties," as described by Pierre Massé.
Overview of the plans The positions regarding the First Plan of Modernization and Equipment and the means to ensure its execution include the following:
Purpose and structure of the Plan
The 1947–1950 Plan of Modernization and Equipment, submitted to the Council, aimed primarily to:
Rapidly improve the population's standard of living, particularly in food supply; Modernize and equip key industries (coal, electricity, steel, cement, agricultural machinery, and transport); Modernize agriculture; Allocate maximum resources to reconstruction, balancing the needs of key industries and modernizing the construction materials and building industries; Modernize and expand export industries to balance the trade accounts by 1950.
This created the foundation for a second phase focused on transforming living conditions, especially housing.
First Plan or Monnet Plan (1946–1952)
The First Plan of Modernization and Equipment is remembered as the one that, in the aftermath of World War II, quantified and translated into action the dilemma of "modernization or decline."
Its goals addressed economic lag and shortages, restarting production and meeting the population's essential needs, raising the standard of living, and improving housing and collective living conditions. The Plan extended to restoring public and private infrastructure and equipment damaged or destroyed by the war.
It focused selectively on six core sectors: coal, electricity, cement, agricultural machinery, transport, and steel. With a limited number of objectives and broad consensus, the First Plan was executed.
The plan fostered a new mindset among business leaders without undermining private initiative. The state's strengthened role in production, bolstered by post-war nationalizations and price controls, supported effective economic management.
The Marshall Plan significantly aided the Monnet Plan by financing much of the investment in core sectors.
The plan's initial duration was extended to 1952 to align with other schedules.
Second Plan (1954–1957) or Hirsch Plan The Second Plan coincided with the final years of the Fourth Republic. It retained quantitative production targets, covering more sectors. Planning expanded to public investments, particularly in schools and hospitals. Multi-year programs were initiated, not at the request of relevant ministers but by the Budget Director, who sought to prioritize amid growing funding demands.
From the Second Plan, planning shifted from core sectors to actions enhancing resource efficiency—research and development, agricultural market organization, business restructuring, and workforce retraining.
Approved by law two years later, the Second Plan was reasonably well-executed despite severe financial difficulties caused by the Algerian War. Its completion saw a growing trade deficit, forcing the French government in January 1958 to send Jean Monnet to Washington for $600 million in emergency aid.
Third Plan (1958–1961) The Third Plan aimed to sustain growth amid three key changes:
Opening borders and France's entry into the Common Market (Treaty of Rome, 1957); The escalating Algerian War and accompanying inflationary pressures; The imminent entry into the workforce of the post-war baby boom generation.
The Third Plan's development, tied to General Charles de Gaulle's vision for national and state recovery, introduced two significant changes: the use of national accounting to set a gross domestic product growth target and test internal consistency, and a forward-looking approach with long-term projections (1955–1965).
Execution of the Third Plan was marked by the 1959 .
Recovery occurred faster than anticipated, but at the cost of slowed growth, largely offset by the 1960–1961 interim plan.
Fourth Plan (1962–1965) By 1960, the French economy was clearly on a path of sustained growth, transitioning from scarcity to relative abundance, with mass consumption emerging.
In this new economic context, the original principles of planning expanded. The focus shifted from directing production to priority sectors to ensuring optimal conditions for economic and social development. The Fourth Plan targeted modernization of "lagging" sectors (hospital sector, motorways, telecommunications, and national education).
Planning became more indicative, setting goals not solely dependent on the state. While increasingly macroeconomic, it incorporated social considerations.
The law of August 4, 1962, approving the Plan for Economic and Social Development, defined parliamentary approval procedures for plan legislation for the first time.
This applied to the Fourth Plan, a high point in French planning history.
Its development benefited from favorable conditions: the leadership of the new Commissioner General, Pierre Massé; the 1960–1962 economic climate and steady global growth; and the commitment of Charles de Gaulle and the government to the "ardent obligation" of planning as a key tool for asserting economic policy choices. Procedural innovations, such as the creation of the Conseil Supérieur du Plan, consultation with the Conseil Économique et Social on major directions, and the reintegration of the CGT into modernization commissions, fostered a consensual atmosphere.
The Fourth Plan revolved around three objectives:
Strong growth while maintaining major economic balances;
A doubling of the growth rate of collective infrastructure compared to GDP; Efforts to address social and regional inequalities, focusing on distributing the benefits of expansion, or, in Pierre Massé's words, "sharing the surplus," particularly for collective services.
The Fourth Plan was the most successfully executed of all plans. However, two events stood out: the failure of the 1964 Conference des Revenus and the beginning of a decline in France's fertility rate in the same year.
Fifth Plan (1966–1970) The Fifth Plan aimed to balance rapid industrial growth with social progress through expanded collective infrastructure, amid increased competition due to open borders. It set indicative price and wage guidelines to curb inflation. To prevent economic overheating, its growth target was slightly lower than that of the Fourth Plan.
Enhancing production competitiveness and controlling income and price trends became primary concerns.
The May 1968 unrest disrupted the Fifth Plan's execution. While growth remained unaffected, prices surged, leading to a slowdown in collective infrastructure development. The French economy's performance was constrained by inadequate vocational training and poor management of workplace social relations.
Sixth Plan (1971–1975) The Sixth Plan prioritized industrial imperatives, with nuclear programs and the TGV championed by Charles de Gaulle and continued by President Georges Pompidou after the 1969 referendum. For the first time, the concept of fonction collective emerged, broadening the scope of collective infrastructure planning.
The development of the turbotrain, precursor to the TGV, connecting Paris to Lyon in two hours, was confirmed in 1972 by Transport Minister Robert Galley, following trials at 220 km/h in spring 1972 and 300 km/h that summer.
Initially abandoned due to "opposition from aircraft manufacturers and Air Inter" and high costs (1.41 billion francs), the project was revived after a March 26, 1971, interministerial council approved a Paris-Lyon link by 1978 or 1979, costing over 1.5 billion francs and deemed profitable.
Olivier Guichard, , favored enhanced air links or an aérotrain, but Galley reaffirmed the decision in 1972. On March 23, the SNCF unveiled the turbotrain à grande vitesse, or TGV 001, at Alsthom's Belfort plant.
A third-generation successor to the gas-turbine trains, operating successfully since March 16, 1970, at 160 km/h on the Paris-Caen-Cherbourg line, the TGV held export potential, attracting interest from the United States, where the Federal Department of Transportation commissioned Sofrerail for high-speed rail expertise in June 1972.
Meanwhile, EDF accelerated nuclear deployment during the Sixth Plan, commissioning six new reactors. In May 1969, Ambroise Roux outlined a rationalization agreement with his former partner Alstom, in which held an 18% stake. By November 1969, the CGE acquired 50% of Alstom's capital. This followed the purchase of boiler and steam turbine assets from Stein et Roubaix and Rateau, despite earlier mentions of a 40% stake.
Facing intensifying global competition and an increasingly specialized international division of labor, the Sixth Plan addressed structural constraints on the French economy: the significant agricultural population, the need for better enterprise management and social relations, and housing shortages hindering workforce mobility.
The Sixth Plan aligned with President Georges Pompidou's priorities—strong growth and industrial focus—while aiming for low inflation, faster growth in collective infrastructure than in production, and improved living conditions.