A three-decade period that began with the reconstruction of post-war France in 1945, which saw steady economic growth, full employment, the development of a consumer society and a baby-boom is widely known in the country as “les Trente Glorieuses”. Recurrent economic crises since have made many nostalgic of a long-gone, supposedly blissful “thirty glorious” years. But a number of historians argue that for most of the population there never was this golden age that has become a national legend. Nicolas Chevassus-au-Louis reports on the myth and reality of the Trente Glorieuses.
Forty years ago, the French economy was hit by its first recession since the end of World War 2, when France’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) fell by 1% on the previous year. A similar loss of growth has occurred on two occasions since (a fall of -0.6% in 1993 and notably a tumble of -2.9% in 2009), which has tended to minimize the importance of what happened in 1975. But at the time it was regarded as a major event. The crisis, this interminable economic crisis that those under the age of 40 in France have the impression of having always lived through, had begun.
