How to Deal with High Public Debt? When Policies Adapt to Changing Circumstances in Sauvy and Vincent's Publications at the Institut de Conjoncture (1942–1944)

Abstract This article seeks to add depth to the intellectual career of André Vincent and Alfred Sauvy, two notable French economists, by identifying them as the authors of three articles that were originally published anonymously in 1942 and 1943. Those writings, published by the Institut de conjuncture, were intended to inform French economic authorities on the challenges facing France for reconstruction. To do so, the authors developed a model to conceptualize ways to deal with the combined wartime challenges of rising note circulation and prices, increasing state debt, and the need to finance reconstruction. The evolution of their policy advice is a good illustration of the dynamic essential to the “science de la conjoncture” spearheaded by Sauvy and Vincent: adapting analysis and policy recommendations in a period of rapid change.