Salaires, intérêts, profits dans l'industrie française, 1968-1976

In the period between the signing of the Grenelle agreements of 1968 and the deep crisis of the mid-seventies, the distribution of primary incomes in French industrial companies experienced major changes.Contrary to widely held opinion, the increase in inflation has not had the effect of making companies richer by allowing them to increase profit margins artificially, by systematic dévaluation of their debts or by any other means.The authors hâve based their work on several thousand company accounts collected by a spécial department of the Bank of France. They illustrate the stratégies of those engaged in the distribution of the national product — the state, bankers, employers and wage earners — and describe the processus which has led progressively to a paralysis of industrial investment.The Barre Plan attempted to reverse the trends in distribution which had prevailed since 1968. It has not, however, made possible the return to normal profit margins which remains the condition for a satisfactory recovery of private productive investment.