I was born and grew up near Montreal (Canada), where I graduated (University of Montreal). After a few years of teaching, I moved to Europe to finish my first Ph. D. (I hold two PhDs, both “cum laude”: one in Economics, the other in the History of Science).  My first job in Europe was in the Netherlands, and I have been with the University of Paris (Pantheon-Sorbonne) as Full Professor since 1983. I have been visiting professor or researcher at several foreign universities. Since 2014, I am Professor Emeritus, focusing on research projects.

My main field of research has been and remains the economics of organizations and institutions. Over time, I have been increasingly involved in: the economics of infrastructures, with a special emphasis on the water sector; the analysis of internal properties of organizations; inter-firm agreements (“hybrid” arrangements, such as joint ventures, strategic alliances etc.); and the interaction between institutional reforms and organizational change.

I created and directed the Center ATOM (Analytical Theory of Organizations and Markets) from 1991 until 2009, when it merged with the Centre d’Economie de la Sorbonne.

I have been co-founder of the International Society for New Institutional Economics, with Ronald Coase, Douglass North, Oliver Williamson, and a few others, and was president of that association in 2001-2002 (in 2015, the name of ISNIE has been changed to SIOE - Society for Institutional and Organizational Economics). I have also been a co-founder of The Ronald Coase Institute, with Ronald Coase, Alexandra and Lee Benham, and Mary Shirley. I have been co-editor of the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization from 1998 to 2011 and I am director of the Advances in New Institutional Analysis series (Edward Elgar Pub.)

Beside this continuing interest for research in economics and social sciences, I have a secret passion for cinema that led me to write numerous critics for different journals and books, and I have had the pleasure and honor to be associated on different projects to the reputed Dutch filmmaker Johan van der Keuken.

At a more personal level, I am the happy father of two girls, Sandrine and Noriane. And I am crazy about cross-country skiing and canoeing.