Neoliberal ideas made headway during the 1950s and the 1960s, even if only among a few economists or civil servants who later declared themselves to be neoliberals. This renewal was facilitated by the lack of a credible alternative in economic policy. Keynesianism was introduced in France only under the Occupation. After 1945, it was defended by some socialists, civil servants, and economists affiliated with Social Catholicism (in particular Henri Guitton and Alain Barrère), but it was not generally considered legitimate from a left-wing perspective. For numerous French economists, the lesson of the General Theory was to consider "the growth harmonized by a deliberate policy" as the main economic phenomenon.

Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, loc. 298