Born in Toulouse on September 23, 1946, and assassinated on January 7, 2015, in Paris during the attack at Charlie Hebdo.

French economist, author, and journalist.

His mother was from Marseille, his father from Toulouse. His father was very active in the Resistance, where, among other activities, he managed newspapers. In fact, Bernard Maris was “moulded by his father in the philosophy of the Resistance” at a very young age. He would later say: “journalism and resistance are two words that go together, which quite suits me¹ ”.

Bernard Maris attended the Pierre-de-Ferma Lycée, then the University of Toulouse-I where he obtained his doctorate in Economic Sciences in 1975, submitting the thesis “Personal Distribution of Income: A Theoretical Approach in a Framework of Balanced Growth.” In 1980, he left France to teach micro-economy at the University of Iowa College of Business (United States) where he was a visiting adjunct professor for a year.

Initially an assistant lecturer at the University of Toulouse-I, Bernard Maris then became a lecturer there in 1984.

In 1986 and in 1988, he made two trips to Peru where he was a professor of micro-economy at the Peru Central Bank.

Then, in 1994, he became a tenured university professor, having succeeded the aggregation competition (General Economic Science) at the Institut d'études politiques in Toulouse. In 1998, he joined the Institut d’études européennes of Université Paris VIII.

In 1995, the editorial board of the magazine Le Nouvel Économiste awarded him the title of “Best economist of the year.” 

In 2011, he is appointed Member of the General Council of the Bank of France.  

Parallel to his career as an economist and professor, he invested his energies in journalism, a profession he dreamed of in his youth. Whether in newspapers or magazines (Marianne, Le Nouvel Observateur, Les Échos, Le Monde, Le Figaro Magazine and Charlie Hebdo), radio (France Inter) or television (I-Télé, France 5), his goal was to demystify the economy. He played an important role at Charlie Hebdo where he was the assistant editorial director. In addition to this responsibility, he was also one of the publication’s minority shareholders. For many years, he had a programme on France Inter, where he debated first with Jean-Marc Sylvestre, then with Dominique Seux; he was a weekly guest on two radio programs entitled J'ai tout compris à l'économie and L'autre économie, and authored an online blog.

A tireless worker, he published numerous works, mainly essays, on the economy – often rather biting (see bibliography below). Passionate about literature, he published three novels: Pertinentes questions morales et sexuelles dans le Dakota du Nord (1995), L'Enfant qui voulait être muet (2003), and Le Journal (2005).

In 2010, he played the part of the economist in Film Socialisme by Jean-Luc Godard, who recently commented: “he was an honest man, and like most honest people, he trembled when acting.”

Let us not forget to mention that Bernard Maris participated in founding ATTAC and sat on the association’s scientific advisory committee. Finally, he stood as a Green Party candidate in the 2002 general elections.

¹ Assen Slim, Comment je suis devenu Économiste, éd. Le Cavalier Bleu, 2007 

Economy

Éléments de politique économique : l'expérience française de 1945 à 1984, 1985

Des économistes au-dessus de tout soupçon ou la grande mascarade des prédictions, 1990

Les Sept Péchés capitaux des universitaires, 1991

Jacques Delors, artiste et martyr, 1993

Parlant pognon mon petit, 1994

Ah Dieu ! que la guerre économique est jolie !, co-authored with Philippe Labarde, 1998

Keynes ou l'économiste citoyen, 1999

Lettre ouverte aux gourous de l'économie qui nous prennent pour des imbéciles, 1999

La Bourse ou la vie – La grande manipulation des petits actionnaires, co-authored with Philippe Labarde, 2000

Malheur aux vaincus : Ah, si les riches pouvaient rester entre riches, co-authored with Philippe Labarde, 2002

Antimanuel d'économie : Tome 1, les fourmis, 2003

Antimanuel d'économie : Tome 2, les cigales, 2006

Gouverner par la peur, with Leyla Dakhli, Roger Sue, Georges Vigarello, 2007

Petits principes de langue de bois économique, 2008

Capitalisme et pulsion de mort, co-authored with Gilles Dostaler, 2009

Marx, ô Marx, pourquoi m'as-tu abandonné ?, 2010

Plaidoyer (impossible) pour les socialistes, 2012


Other essays

L’Homme dans la guerre : Maurice Genevoix face à Ernst Jünger, ‎2013

Houellebecq économiste, 2014

Et si on aimait la France, 2015


Novels

Pertinentes questions morales et sexuelles dans le Dakota du Nord, 1995

L'Enfant qui voulait être muet, 2003

Le Journal, 2005