How economics frames political debates: macroeconomic forecasting in the French planning commissions

Abstract

Abstract This article analyzes how economics can frame political debates using economic policy devices. It examines the FIFI macroeconomic model’s introduction into the French planning processes of the mid-1960s and argues that economists perform two operations, selection and qualification, which play a key role in structuring political debates on the French economy’s future. Building on archives and in-depth interviews, I show how the FIFI model was a central component of the Sixth Plan (1971–1975): it was designed to produce simulations of state intervention in the French economy and organize planning commissions debates. Studying the struggles and controversies surrounding this model and the economic policies promoted by it, the article ultimately shows how certain political options are made publicly available while others are discarded.