François Perroux (December 19, 1903, Saint-Romain-en-Gal – June 2, 1987, Stains) was a French economist. He was named Professor at the Collège de France, after having taught at the University of Lyon (1928 - 1937) and the University of Paris (1935 - 1955). He founded the Institut de Sciences Economiques Appliquées in 1944.
He was terribly critical of the leading financial and economic policies toward the Third World during the half-century of his career. He said that they took insufficient account of the originality, culture, and concrete situations of the countries concerned, and were too quantitative, too Western in concept, and too centered around the interests of the rich industrialised countries. He counselled the peoples of the Third World to build upon their cultures, their social organisations, and their resources, so as to better the internal coherence of their economies and reduce the effects of domination by the exterior.[1]
Association des Amis de François Perroux, Journée François Perroux, published around early 2008; retrieved July 2009.