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Programming the Common Market: The Making and Failure of a ‘Dirigiste’ Europe, 1957–1967

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 May 2021

Hugo Canihac Open the ORCID record for Hugo Canihac [Opens in a new window]
Hugo Canihac*
Affiliation:
Université Saint-Louis, Bruxelles, Boulevard du Jardin Botanique, 43, 1000, Bruxelles, Belgium
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[email protected]
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Abstract

This article contributes to the debate about the history of the political economy of the European Economic Community (EEC). It retraces the efforts during the early years of the EEC to implement a form of ‘European economic programming’, that is, a more ‘dirigiste’ type of economic governance than is usually associated with European integration. Based on a variety of archives, it offers a new account of the making and failure of this project. It argues that, at the time, the idea of economic programming found many supporters, but its implementation largely failed for political as well as practical reasons. In so doing, it also brings to light the role of economists during the early years of European integration.

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Contemporary European History , Volume 30 , Issue 3 , August 2021 , pp. 383 - 397
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Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

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