Banque de France’s Independence from the Great War to the 4 August 1993 Banque de France Act

This paper analyses Banque de France’s independence during the 20th century. The contribution highlights a tradition of government intervention to drive monetary policy in order to finance government spending. During the 1980s, it was particularly difficult to reform the Banque de France Act implemented in January 1973. Only a hard foreign constraint (international capital mobility and European integration) push to adopt a new law in 1993 (August 4) with an important degree of independence.