Biography

 

He entered the Ecole Polytechnique in 1873, where he was a fellow pupil of Henri Poincaré.During his time at École des Ponts et Chaussées, he studied for his law degree.On leaving, he passed the entrance exam to the Council of State, was appointed an auditor and seconded to the Ministry of Public Works.He would remain there for 17 years, in a brilliant career that culminated in his role as Vice-President from 1923 to 1928, when he retired.Deputy to Alfred Picard in the Department of Roads Railways and Navigation in 1885, for five years he dedicated himself to reforming and unifying railway tariffs.In 1894, he was appointed director of railways.Of strong character, he had the reputation of backing his ideas against all odds.His relations with the tutelary ministers often proved difficult, and in the end he chose to resign rather than accepting compromise.Until the end, he was particularly interested in economic questions relating to public works, and especially in railway operation. He notably took part in the work of the International Railway Congress, where his skills were highly appreciated.He began his teaching career in 1885, first at the Higher School of Business Studies, which culminated in the publication of “Transport and Tariffs” in 1890.His role as a teacher at École des Ponts et Chaussées began in 1892 and lasted almost 40 years, and he transformed the teaching of economics there.In 1909, he also became a professor at the Free School of Political Sciences, and the publication of his course in Political Economics between 1901 and 1907 brought him entry to the Academy of Moral and Political Sciences.In addition, he published a quarterly column on “Transport Questions” in the “Political and Parliamentary Review” from 1896 to 1932. His main work focused on the operation of monopolies.He specialised in communication routes, with a particular emphasis on railways, and his economics output is associated with this field.In particular, it was his idea to connect pricing questions with general theory, which directed him towards research into monopolies and price mechanisms.His theory of wage determination and interest was inspired by the investigation of station infrastructure projects.His liberal economic doctrine was often linked with mathematical economics, though he denied this, emphasising the importance of psychological factors in economic phenomena.

 

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