François Perroux's corporatist price control theory: the roots of a structuring critique of neoclassical economics

This article seeks to highlight a previously overlooked theoretical continuity in François Perroux's trajectory, linking his "corporatist period" to his post-war writings. We demonstrate that a key aspect of François Perroux's critique of neoclassical economics, which persisted through his efforts to revise general equilibrium theory in the 1970s, originates from his corporatist economic model developed in the 1930s. This core idea can be summarized as follows: the concentrated nature of capitalist structures makes the economic equilibrium indeterminate, necessitating and justifying the intervention of the state to regulate both prices and wages. We argue that the convergence of Perroux's critique of neoclassical economics and his corporatist theorization reaches its peak in a text published during the Liberation of France, a time of profound intellectual transformation for the author. The theoretical elements developed on this occasion permeate the whole of his later works, which must therefore be reinterpreted in the light of his early corporatist writings. Finally, by exhuming a significant yet entirely overlooked theory, this article contributes to the development of a historical perspective on microeconomic theories of price control.