2 Quotes & Sayings By Jacques Rueff

Jacques Rueff was born in Paris in 1879. He died in 1982. After obtaining his doctorate in law, he became a professor of finance at the University of Grenoble, then director of the French National Economic Observatory, and finally general delegate of the French foreign trade. During the 1920s he played a major role in the stabilization of the franc. In 1928 Rueff published "The Monetary Delusion" ("La Fausse monnaie") in which he attacked the ideas expounded by John Maynard Keynes, who had won him over to his ideas on monetary policy Read more

This pamphlet had a great influence upon public opinion, especially that of the French government, at a time when it was being buffeted by forces that threatened to bring about inflation. It also exerted an influence on many other economists who were convinced that Keynes's theories would lead inevitably to inflation. Rueff's book was translated into English and German and reached a wide audience among economists and financial journalists throughout the world. The following year Rueff published "The Monetary Creel" ("La Finance creole"), which developed his ideas on the subject even further and which was translated into English and German.

In 1932 he published "The Monetary Revolution" ("La Revolution monétaire"), which contained a critical analysis of the work of Keynes and his followers and referred to them as "the new doctrinaires." The book was translated into English and German and also appeared in an abridged version under the title "Monetary Reform." Closer to Rueff's views than Keynes's were those of Joseph Schumpeter, who described his own work as "a development out of [Rueff's] doctrine," while insisting that this doctrine too was tainted with error. Having come back into office in 1932 at the expense of Joseph Caillaux because of his criticism of the government's economic policy, Paul Reynaud formed a new cabinet led by Pierre Laval at the expense of Rueff, who had been forced out as deputy for Alpes Maritimes. When Laval became Prime Minister after France's defeat during World War II, Rueff once again became deputy for Alpes Maritimes, although he did not take up this post until after Laval had been dismissed from it under charges of treason for collaborating with Germany during World War II. Rueff died on January 28, 1982, aged ninety-three.