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| Les Trente Glorieuses | |||
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| 1945–1975 | |||
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| Location | France and its colonies | ||
| President(s) | Vincent Auriol René Coty Charles de Gaulle Alain Poher (acting) Georges Pompidou Valéry Giscard d'Estaing | ||
| Key events | Suez Crisis Algerian War May 68 1973 oil crisis | ||
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Ancien Régime
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Les Trente Glorieuses (French pronunciation:[letʁɑ̃tɡlɔʁjøz]; 'The Thirty Glorious (Years)') was a thirty-year period of economic growth in France between 1945 and 1975, following the end of theSecond World War.
The name was first used by the French demographerJean Fourastié, who coined the term in 1979 with the publication of his bookLes Trente Glorieuses, ou la révolution invisible de 1946 à 1975 ('The Glorious Thirty, or the Invisible Revolution from 1946 to 1975'). The term is derived fromLes Trois Glorieuses ('The Glorious Three'), the three days of revolution between 27–29 July 1830 in France.[1]
As early as 1944, after returning to a still partially occupied France as leader of the Free French,Charles de Gaulle introduced adirigiste economic policy, which included substantial state-directed control over a capitalist economy that since 1940 had been controlled by German occupation. This was followed by thirty years of unprecedented growth, known as theTrente Glorieuses. Over this thirty-year period, France's economy grew rapidly, like economies of other developed countries within the framework of theMarshall Plan, such asWest Germany,Italy, andJapan.
From 1946 to 1950, France, paralyzed by an obsolete economy and infrastructures, did not achieve real growth, and living conditions remained very difficult after the war and the penury which resulted from it. The cost of living rose. Rationing, present until 1947–1948, and the housing crisis accentuated the problems of a people still scarred by World War II.
With restored borders and tariffs, this interchange was limited. With the 1951 introduction of the "Montanunion"European Coal and Steel Community trade according to supranational High Authority decisions, efficiency and prosperity rose.
These decades of economic prosperity combined high productivity with high average wages and high consumption, and were also characterized by a highly developed system of social benefits.[2] The real purchasing power of the average French worker's salary went up by 170% between 1950 and 1975, while overall private consumption increased by 174% in the period 1950–1974.[3]
The Frenchstandard of living, which had been damaged by bothWorld Wars, became one of the world's highest. The population became far more urbanized. Many ruraldépartements experienced a population decline, while the larger metropolitan areas grew considerably, especiallyParis. Ownership of household goods and amenities increased considerably,[4][5][6] while the wages of the French working class rose significantly as the economy became more prosperous. As noted by the historians Jean Blondel and Donald Geoffrey Charlton in 1974,
If it is still the case that France lags in the number of its telephones, working-class housing has improved beyond recognition and the various 'gadgets' of the consumer society—from television to motor cars—are now purchased by the working class on an even more avid basis than in other Western European countries.[7]
In his 2013 bookCapital in the Twenty-First Century, French economistThomas Piketty describes theTrente Glorieuses as an exceptional 'catch up' period following the two world wars. He cites statistics showing that normal growth in wealthy countries is about 1.5–2%, whereas in Europe growth dropped to 0.5% between 1913 and 1950, and then 'caught up' with a growth rate of 4% between 1950 and 1970, until settling back to 1.5–2% from 1970 onward.[8]
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