Albert Merlin


Albert Merlin was a French economist and vice-president of the "Presaje" institute, which deals with the interaction between the economy and Law.

Early life and education

After following a graduate degree in economics and a diploma from the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris in Paris, Merlin began his career at Rexeco, an economic and business forecasting institute associated with the French Federation of Business. He subsequently joined the Compagnie de Saint-Gobain, world's leading producer of glass and building materials, first as an industrial economist, then as chief economist.

Early economic career

Merlin was a founder in 1969, then the president, from 1975 to 1979, of the French Association of Business Economists. Then he
developed AFEDE's international activities which led him to create, then preside over the European Federation of Business Economists which brought together French, British, German, Italian and other European economists.
Alumnus of IMD, Merlin was also active in teaching, first as an associate professor at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales then at ENA France's state school for training senior government officials. He was subsequently a Professor of Business Economics at Sciences Po from 1986 to 1990.
After serving from 1980 to 1982 on France's Conseil Economique et social, Merlin was elected president of the Société d'Economie Politique France's society of distinguished academics and corporate economists.

Contributions

On retiring from Saint-Gobain, Merlin founded and directed the journal Societal, which publishes economic and social analyses written by academics as well as business leaders. In 2000 he participated in creating the PRESAJE institute, a think tank specialized in analyzing the interaction between law and economics. He was vice-president of PRESAJE.

Publications & Essays

Merlin wrote a book with Michel Drancourt and is the author of many economic essays, as well as articles published in leading publications including Les Echos, le Monde and Le Figaro. In 2003, he was awarded the Abramson Scroll by the National Association for Business Economics for co-authoring with Paul Horne, an American economist, a survey of the economic impact of corporate poor governance in the US.

Distinctions

He is a former co-chairman of the European Council of Economists, sponsored by The Conference Board of New York and Brussels. He is also a member of the National Association for Business Economics in the U.S.
Merlin was made knight of the Order of the Legion of Honour Légion d'honneur.

Selected bibliography

-- "Demain la croissance" avec M. Drancourt : Growth
to-morrow—L'intelligence industrielle : Industrial grey
matter—De la prévision à la décision : From forecasting
to decision making—La culture économique dans l'entreprise : The
culture of economics in corporations—Rendements croissants et nouvelle economie : Increasing returns
and the new economy—Les habits neufs de la productivité : The new face of
productivity—Does" Enronitis " threaten the Dollar and the economy ? with Paul Horne
-- A la recherche de la Société Juste Searching for a
just Society—L'économiste d'entreprise : The corporate economist—Le nécessaire, l'utile et le futile : The necessary, the useful and the futile