Les États-Unis et le bon gouvernement économique de la France au temps des aides

Our paper presents the American point of view on what good economic government constituted for France after World War IL It looks at the degree of autonomy France enjoyed in its economic and financial choices and at the way it adapted the American model of good governance, America’s social project offered staff a higher share of profits, access to consumer society and a new trade union friendly environment in order to build a consensus for market economics and increase productivity. Modernisation meant boosting innovation and technological transfers from the design stage down to the shop floor, and the professionalisation of managers and executives. French entrepreneurs were caught between fascination and scepticism. This goes a long way to explain the delays and uncertainties in applying the American model to France. The most enthusiastic was France’s new middle class, which did not share the old elites’fear for France’s cultural supremacy and mimicked the American way of life. The United States brought new standards of management in public affairs