Essai de repérage des tendances de pensée en économie rurale : quelles sont les grandes controverses actuelles ?

There are economists and there are those whose thought takes the form of a speech. But both begin by formulating an hypothesis which they then check. Agricultural economists have rarely left France, as far as their thought is concerned at any rate. They have concentrated their thought on the future of French agriculture, its industrialisation, the future of family farms, the integration of the farm in the agricultural-food-industries complex, the significance of the price paid to the producer, the notion of economic power, and finally the role of the State and of professional organisations. Their function leads them to challenge the established order. But are they Marxists for all that ? To begin with, what does being a Marxist mean ? A certain Marxism underlies our time. In economics this has led research- workers to inquire into the bases of value and the workings of the market. In spite of these divergences one can conclude that there is a French school of agricultural economics.