Precursors Michel Courcier had started his career after the
liberation of France in the research service of the
Ministry of Finance, and had assisted several former French colonies such as
Cambodia,
Madagascar and
Senegal in their creation of a
national accounting framework. From his international experience, he gained a belief that the methodologies and achievements of French national accounting could and should be expanded to the international level, which became the driving insight for the creation of GEPEI in 1963. The research group was hosted by the
Centre Français du Commerce Extérieur (CFCE), a trade promotion agency of the French government. An early opportunity came with the preparation of President
Charles de Gaulle's
visit to the
Soviet Union in June 1966, for which the GEPEI prepared briefing materials and from which it developed regular relationships with the Soviet
Gosplan. The GEPEI thus became a leading center of expertise on the economy of the Communist bloc. Meanwhile, its research team was joined by economists such as in 1966,
Anton Brender in 1969,, or
Jean Pisani-Ferry in 1977. By the early 1970s, Courcier and Lafay had developed an
economic model of the global economy.
Founding In 1978, Prime Minister
Raymond Barre, on advice from
General Planning Commissioner Michel Albert and from his own economic adviser
Jean-Claude Casanova, reformed the GEPI by expanding its resources, relocating it within the machinery of government from CFCE to the
General Planning Commission, and rebranding it as CEPII. CEPII thus acquired an interagency profile mirrored by its board () which brought together the heads or deputy heads of major government organizations with economic expertise such as the Planning Commission, the
Direction du Trésor,
INSEE, the Directorate for External Economic Relations (later merged into the
Trésor), the ''Direction Générale de l'Industrie'' (later merged into the ), the
Bank of France, and the
Secretariat-General for National Defence.
Development The GEPEI was initially established in Paris on Quai Branly, then Avenue d'Iéna, then on 54-48, rue Saint-Denis. In late 1980, its successor CEPII moved from there to 9, rue Georges Pitard, where it remained for three decades. In 2010 CEPII relocated to 113, rue de Grenelle, then in 2017 to 20, avenue de Ségur in
Paris. The CEPII developed a series of publication formats: the monthly
Lettre du CEPII from May 1979,, the quarterly
Économie Prospective Internationale from January 1980 (rebranded
Économie Internationale in 1993), working papers () from 1984, the yearly essay ''L'Économie mondiale'' from 1991, and a first website in 1996.
Merger with OFCE In late 2023, a government-commissioned report by economists and
Nicolas Véron recommended a merger between CEPII and
French Observatory of Economic Cycles (OFCE), another government-funded think tank that focuses on domestic economics. Upon the report's publication, Prime Minister
Élisabeth Borne endorsed the recommendation. As of May 2023, OFCE was ranked 16th worldwide (and first in France) among economic think tanks by the
RePEc initiative. ==Leadership==