Frédéric Passy

Léon Walras

Alain Alcouffe
email: alain.alcouffe@ut-capitole.fr

Fanny Coulomb
email: fanny.coulomb@iepg.fr

Pacifism of the French liberals

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INTRODUCTION

An idea is wrongly existing in the collective unconscious: that in which the first advocates of economic liberalism, British Classical economists, were convinced that trade was a factor for peace and that the spread of free trade would eradicate war. In recent times, F. Fukuyama's theory on the "end of history" used this idea, among others. However the first Classical economists were much less definitive, on this issue, than is generally thought. In fact, neither Smith nor Ricardo nor Malthus said anything definitive about it. And Ricardian and Malthusian analyzes are so pessimistic about the longterm future of capitalism (reaching steady state, scarcity of food resources ...) that the idea of peace through free trade cannot be attributed to them.

Only a current, inherited from Jean-Baptiste Say, promised an end to war by spreading the liberal model (Frédéric Bastiat in France).

The liberal economic theory presupposes the absence of interventionism, and therefore of trade or military conflicts, to allow the rise of the international trade. The peaceful character of foreign trade is underlined, some liberal economists even predicting the achievement of a state of world peace in the long run, when all governments will be aware of the superiority of the free trade system. In reverse, the cost of war is denounced, as well as an excessive militarism. The rise of liberalism is linked to the one of the pacifist current, to which contribute many orthodox economists.

Using these "economic" arguments Frédéric Passy was able to organize "leagues for peace" and "international peace conferences" and eventually his many efforts were rewarded by the Nobel Prize.

But an even more famous economist Léon Walras who was very critical vis-à-vis the French liberal economists of his time (and notably F. Passy) was convinced that his scientific theory would strongly contribute to the establishment of the world peace.

SAY AND BASTIAT: FREE TRADE, A FACTOR OF PEACE AND PROSPERITY

The progress of civilization was associated with the international peace in many analyzes, following Kant, who however presented war as a necessary evil making it possible for societies to progress towards the state of ideal civilization.

The liberal economists were also numerous to announce the end of the international conflicts thanks to the progress of civilization. In the 18 th century, the French Physiocrats have asserted the idea according to which free markets should lead to the best possible situation, according to a "natural order". Several disciples of François Quesnay, the founder of Physiocracy, have indeed denounced the cost of trade wars, based on the false principle that a country can only grow richer to the detriment of another Le Mercier de la Rivière (1910 [1767]) A lasting world peace seems on the contrary desirable for economic development: thus the Marquis de [START_REF] Mirabeau | L'ami des hommes ou Traité de la Population[END_REF]describes humanity as being a big family divided into branches, which must cooperate for better thriving Anne-Robert Turgot, a French statesman close to the Physiocrats, presents the rise of trade, the pacification of the international relations and the "enlightenment" of the "human spirit" as being ineluctable in the long term, because of the progress of civilization.

The classical authors underline the uselessness of wars and their fundamentally extra economic character. The knowledge of the true principles ruling the economy should convince the political leaders to abandon their aggressive trade or military policy. In England, Adam Smith strongly opposed mercantilist principles and defended the conception of an economic body naturally governed by an 'invisible hand'. Several years later, the economist J.B. Say expressed his 'Say's law' which he considers as a fundamental discovery, notably because it must encourage people to become aware of the benefits of world peace. These two authors founded a relatively optimistic liberal current with regard to the possibility of achieving world peace by free trade.

Say uses his 'Say's law' to show the uselessness of wars and the ineluctability of their disappearance. In the long run, the progress of political economy will eventually convince governments of free trade's superiority. The idea of peace will spread worldwide through education and a sound knowledge of economic mechanisms. Jean-Baptist Say thought that his law was going to lead humanity on the path of progress, by enlightening governments, but also and especially national public opinions, on the interest of the liberal peace. Chapter XV of his Traité (1803), entitled Des débouchés (On Outlets), expresses the famous 'Say's law', according to which 'products are exchanged for products' or 'supply creates its own demand'. This principle, first applied to the national economy, was then extended to the international level, justifying in this way free-trade policy.

A nation, compared to an adjoining nation, is in the same situation as a province compared to another province, as a city compared to the country: it is interested in seeing it flourish, and ensured to take advantage of its prosperity [. . .]. One gains nothing from peoples who have nothing to give. It is precious for humanity that a nation, among others, behaves, in every circumstance, according to the liberal principles.

(1803: 144)

International trade enables a nation to increase the outlets for its industrial products. In Say's argumentation, peace is implicitly considered as an inevitable condition of economic prosperity, because commercial outlets can only develop through free trade, in a peaceful world. Throughout his work, Say insists on the destructive effects of war and on the economic importance of peace in economic development.

1 On the moral plane, wars are scourges. Provoked by vengeance or the search for a 'vain glory', they compromise the 'rest and the honour of nations' and 'harvest virtues and talents' (1803: 462). 2 Armed conflicts constitute a waste of people and resources, as well as a loss of income. Warfare is counterproductive (1803: 495). One can assert that war, by eliminating an excess of men, improves the economic situation of survivors. In fact, exactly the opposite occurs, initially because the decrease in the population originated by a conflict is only temporary. By killing consumers, war also kills producers. Therefore, Say's law is no more valid, temporarily. Under these conditions, the birth rate would increase, families considering the objective of the improvement in their living conditions of secondary importance. Human losses must also be regretted from an economic point of view, as men constitute a real 'capital' (the 'human capital' concept). Moreover, war represents a loss of resources, as it 'costs what it prevents from gaining' (the 'opportunity cost' concept) (1803: 494). 3 Even a victorious country will gain no economic advantage from goods acquired by 'plunder'. Instead of increasing its industry, these goods tend to disorganize it, notably by hindering the circulation of goods and money (1803: 150). 4 Furthermore, when they are financed by loans, wars have incalculable damaging economic consequences; this financial burden, a real 'tribute imposed to the conqueror', weighs heavily on the economy for several years after the return of peace. 5 Besides, and this idea had already been developed by Adam Smith, the will of political leaders to expand the colonial empire is economically unjustified, because of the costs represented by not only conquests, but also the maintenance of sufficient armed forces to guarantee peace in the Empire (1803: 227). 6 Finally, conflicts cause important material damage to the territories on which they take place, which will be all the more important if the country is rich and endowed with numerous industrial and agricultural installations (1803: 495).

Say also pursues some of the ideas previously developed by Smith about the origin of prohibition systems, so often a source of war, and notably the idea that these measures would be of benefit to particular interests instead of the general interest (1803: 174). He also denounces mercantilist prejudices, according to which a country can only grow rich at the expense of the others, which represents an offence against the 'first principles of political economy'. As to the origin of war, Say suggests, in addition to trade or colonial conflicts, there are the 'prejudices' of statesmen, regarding their conceptions of honour or glory. Other more original ideas are advanced by Say, notably: the arms race. Indeed, the maintenance of important permanent armies by a State could be interpreted by its neighbours as threatening for their own security. To a certain extent, the phenomenon of the arms race is described there.

the naturally peaceful tendencies of the citizens-producers.

The change from an offensive to a defensive foreign policy: a fundamental economic issue Not only did Jean-Baptist Say denounce the uselessness of wars stemming from a false conception of national interests, but he also gave practical advice on the policy of defence which would be the most favourable to the general interest.

Set up a defensive force rather than an offensive one, enabling the nation to lessen the economic burden of military expenditure (1803: 496).

Promote a general policy which could mobilize citizens around the cause of national defence. A government which benefits from the people's support should always be able to withstand foreign invasion (1803: 156).

Replace permanent armies with militias. Say mistrusted the military: they often disrupt the economy, notably the movement of products, even in peacetime; furthermore, they have an important role in maintaining a warmongering spirit within governments, but also among the population (1803: 162).

Avoid the use of the economic weapon (1803: 180): Say strongly disapproves of governments' resorting to trade restrictions. He does not even make the same concessions as Smith on the matter of trade reprisals; according to Say, the economic cost of such measures is always superior to the political benefits a nation expects to gain from them. In the same way, he questions the efficiency of embargoes: the enemy on which they are imposed will be encouraged to modify a part of its productions and, all things considered, won't suffer much from these measures, because all products will be exchanged for other products within the country. In other words, even if autarky is not desirable, Say's law makes it tolerable.

The development of political economy and its contribution to world peace

Say underlines the fact that, if governments didn't benefit from the support of public opinion, they could never undertake military expeditions. This is why economists must first and foremost enlighten the population, those who govern them being forced to follow the general will, in the case of a representative political system (1828-1830: 162). Therefore, economists have a fundamental role in society; by deducing from the advances of their science the real laws governing economy, and by enlightening public opinion on its real interest, they contribute to the progress of humanity. Yet, one of the fundamental truths revealed by political economy is the uselessness of wars and their negative effect on society's general prosperity. The progress of the population's knowledge of political economy will necessarily be very slow. But some great truths, some simple principles, will nevertheless succeed in being rather quickly accepted, like all great scientific discoveries. (1803: 43) By exalting the essential role of economists as guides of institutional and social evolution, and by considering international peace as humanity's ultimate objective, Say develops an idea, later pursued by Léon Walras. Finally, Say is also one of the first economists to have developed concepts known today as the arms race, alliances and peace dividends.

An industrialist pacifism

In his description of humanity's evolution, Say shows that industrial progress removed the possibility of wars of aggression waged 'to plunder and destroy the sources of wealth' or 'to occupy and maintain a large number of inactive citizens ' (1803: 386). With the development of industry and trade and the awareness of their benefits, the causes of wars were transformed, and became economic. The civilized countries started to fight for colonies or specific trade activities. The risk of invasion by non-industrialized countries, which don't possess advanced military technologies, definitively disappeared. Humanity is about to reach another stage: the continual increase of the domination of society by 'producers' will gradually tend to remove the eventuality of conflicts motivated by alleged economic interests; it is 'in the nature of things'.

A last progress remains to be made, and it will be due to a more generally widespread knowledge of the political economy's principles. We shall admit that when battles are waged in order to keep a colony or a monopoly, we are trying to gain an advantage that is always too costly; we shall realize that foreign products, even those of subject colonies, are always bought with domestic products; that subsequently we must be most of all concerned with domestic production; and that this production is never more favoured than by the most general peace, the most gentle laws, the easiest communications. From now on, the nations' fate won't depend on a uncertain and always precarious preponderance, but on their lights. The governments, which can only subsist with the producers' help, will become more and more dependant [. . .] (1803: 388)

The triumph of economics as a factor of peace Say aimed to demonstrate that economic progress is unlimited, owing to 'Say's law'. He in fact initiated a real 'French economic tradition', for which concrete economic policy issues were of more importance than an abstract theoretical reasoning.

War and peace issues are often mentioned in the works of these French liberal economists. Whereas in England, with John Stuart Mill, economics gradually abandoned these considerations to the political sphere, French economists maintained a kind of truly political economic tradition. They wished to enlighten governments of their real interest, regarding trade and foreign policy, in order to ensure universal peace. Other developments are also presented, such as the idea of international institutions to guarantee international peace. The works of these French economists, regarding the existence of a pre-established economic order, have sometimes been influenced by the Utopian socialists, and particularly of the Saint-Simonians, as well as by the physiocrats.

The economic arguments to promote peace

Two basic conjoined ideas can be found in the works of the French liberal economists of the end of the nineteenth century.

First, peace is a condition of economic development, through enabling the establishment of free trade; the cost of war is far more important than its potential profits.

Second, the evolution of the economy towards an increased liberalism guarantees the advent of a lasting international peace. The economists of this movement rather widely shared the first idea, but their views differed with regards to the second proposition.

The unanimous agreement on the cost of war and the economic necessity of peace

The liberal economists condemn the too high-level of military budgets, leading national income away from productive work, which is 'lost for ever' in Bastiat's own words (1864: 584). Chevalier (1858: 341) also considers military expenditures to be too important, slowing capital progress and, reducing in return national security. Bastiat (1864: 586) blames wars for most of the miseries from which the people suffer. Indeed, war generates losses in personnel and destroys capital, thus causing a 'loss of work'. Later, Leroy-Beaulieu criticized John Stuart Mill's argument, according to which national capital could quickly be rebuilt after war (1896: 259). He also disagrees with Henry George when he states that workers are not maintained by the capital but by their work, which would imply that capital doesn't hinder industrial development. For Leroy-Beaulieu, economic recovery will be all the more slow as capital destruction is important. The return of peace is often characterized by an important economic crisis, because of national indebtedness, trade disruption, the needs for reconstruction and capital and stocks destruction. A country 'of ancient wealth' could certainly repatriate its foreign credits, to finance the economic renewal; but in the end, 'the country finds itself with more loans, pays more taxes and loses the income of the foreign securities it has sold ' (1896: 447).

A few years before, Chevalier (1853: 210) (a former Saint-Simonian) had underlined that peace was a condition of international trade development and recommended free trade. Militarism impedes the development of trade relations and only benefits a limited part of the population. However, free trade is not a sufficient condition for international peace. Even if free trade is a necessary condition for international peace, it is not a sufficient one. This last argumentation distinguishes the liberals, who are optimistic of the advent of a lasting world peace, from the sceptic economists.

One of the fundamental principles of French liberalism of the time is the idea that free trade would create peaceful tendencies within societies, notably by educating public opinion. In this way, Michel Chevalier (1853: 211) approves of England's free-trade policy, which should be an example to the rest of the world.

Of all the French liberal economists having succeeded Say, Bastiat is certainly the most famous. In his opinion, wars have always started because a State acted beyond its prerogatives, namely the maintenance of public order, security and justice (1862: 194). Governmental foreign policies are not in line with the general interest and are only possible because they are financed by taxes, which overburden peoples and prevent the realization of a 'universal harmony'. In actual fact, outlets cannot be conquered through trade reprisals and colonial conquests. Bastiat considers that the error of political economy has been to pay more attention to production than consumption: Superficial minds accused Competition of introducing antagonism among men. This is true and inevitable as long as one considers them only as producers; but if one takes the consumption point of view, then Bastiat's belief in the existence of a divine law establishing a universal harmony was previously evoked. He considers the realization of international peace and the development of free trade as very close objectives, and he even appeals to the French government to start a procedure of total disarmament. His firm belief in human nature's perfectibility distinguishes his analysis from Chevalier's, who considers war as inherent to human nature.

The various kinds of pacifism of French liberal economists of the end of the nineteenth century

Like the Utopian socialists, the French liberal economists of the midnineteenth century provide numerous projects on the social changes. With regard to our subject, economists made many original proposals on the French defence policy or institutions in order to ensure a peaceful settlement of conflicts. But not all liberal economists were ready to abandon the concept of nation or national defence for an illusory belief in the advent of a world peace through free trade. Bastiat (1862: 197) recommends the disarmament of European countries, and bases his argumentation on two points: first, a decrease of military expenditure would allow a reduction in taxes, then, it would entail a general movement of world pacification. Free trade is far more profitable economically than protectionism and colonialism. The aggressive military policy must be replaced by a defensive strategy, with a decrease in military expenditures (and thus in fiscal pressure) and the constitution of militias. A country which proceeds simultaneously in a reduction of military expenditures and of taxes, would thus achieve two aims: a lower risk of invasion, because the other peoples should feel less threatened and should therefore follow the examples of justice and peace. Bastiat even dares to predict that England, which has adopted free trade, will reduce by half its naval forces within seven years. At the end of the third volume of Bastiat's Works (1864: 518), Cobden and the League, the editor admits that the European war which occurred after the author's death has prevented this prediction from coming true. a higher national defensive potential, owing to the support of the entire population; a decrease in taxes is the best way to guarantee this support and thus to limit internal disputes.

Appeal for radical peaceful solutions

Bastiat denounces the governments' erroneous reasoning regarding the necessity of military expenditures to maintain internal peace: 'Let's overburden the taxpayer to have a big army, then let's have a big army to contain the taxpayer' (1863: 458). For Bastiat, the defenders of a high level of armament (and thus, indirectly, of armed conflicts) are those who benefit from monopolies and who use the argument of national security to justify the protection of their activities (1862: 204). In Paix et liberté ou le budget républicain (Peace and Freedom or The Republican Budget) (1863: 454), Bastiat proposes a programme of total and immediate disarmament of France. He considers that the country would then take the lead of a real revolution, while contributing to the spread of the idea of democracy throughout the world; moreover, taxes should decrease and mass consumption should increase. He doesn't believe there is a real danger of invasion, nor does he consider disarmament would threaten external security. In a famous passage of his work, his style of argumentation reminds one of the Utopian economists of the nineteenth century.

I believe that the moment has come when France has to resolutely declare that she considers that the Solidarity of peoples lies in the linking of their interests and the communication of their ideas, and not in the interposition of the brute force. And to give to this statement an irresistible weight -Because what is a manifesto, whether eloquent or not? -I believe that the moment has come for her to dissolve this brute force itself. [. . .] Personally, I shall not hesitate to vote for disarmament, because I do not believe in invasions. Where would they come from? From Spain? From Italy? From Prussia? From Austria? It is impossible. Which leaves only England and Russia. England! She has already experienced it and a twenty two billion debt, of which the workers still pay the interest, is a lesson which cannot be forgotten. Russia! But it is a chimera. Contacts with France are not what she seeks, but what she avoids. And if the emperor Nicolas dared send us two hundred thousand Muscovites, I sincerely believe the best we would have to do, would be to give them a warm welcome, to make them taste the sweetness of our wines, to show them our streets, our shops, our museums, the people's happiness, the gentleness and the equality of our penal laws, after that we would tell them: Go back to your Steppes as soon as possible and tell your brothers what you have seen.

(1863: 456)

According to Bastiat (1862: 153), the real interest of workers lies in free trade, which guarantees peace better than any political initiative. He is not favourable to great international projects in favour of peace (too 'artificial') but only to a free-market economy, which ensures 'the interlacement of interests' and 'the worker's emancipation and rehabilitation'.

Bastiat's optimistic belief in this natural harmony of interests led him to advocate an unequivocal program of laissez-faire: peace and liberty were, for him, two sides of the same coin. Known as "the French Cobden" for his support of free trade, Bastiat argued that the material interests of France lay in solidarity with other nations and that war benefited only a few in society while excessively taxing the majority. In 1849, he asserted that the survival of the French Second Republic depended upon a policy of disarmament and investment in education and industry. The initiative to disarm, moreover, should be unilateral, since the French arms build-up had provoked the global arms race (la paix armée) to begin with. He specifically recommended a foreign policy of non-intervention, which meant withdrawal from Algeria, and the reduction of the standing army to two hundred thousand troops. These measures, he estimated, would save France one hundred million francs. 2 Bastiat believed, furthermore, that the economic dislocation caused by the paix armée would continue as long as the process of government excluded public opinion. "Freedom in the interior, peace abroad. That is the whole program," Bastiat insisted. 3 The revolutionary events of 1848 convinced him that developments in mass politics were making the goal of universal peace more attainable. As he wrote to the 1850 Peace Congress in Frankfurt:

For some years, the world has withstood circumstances which would certainly have incited long and cruel wars in other eras. Why have they been avoided? Because if there are partisans of war in Europe, there are also friends of peace; if there are men who are always set to go to war, in whom a foolish education has imbued archaic and prejudiced ideas, who attach honour only to physical courage and see glory only in military feats, there are fortunately other men at the same time more religious, more moral, more prudent, and better calculators4 . Passy (1822Passy ( -1912) ) was born into a family brimming with well-placed public servants. These included a number of veterans of the Napoleonic Wars, such as his father, Félix, who fought at Waterloo; his great-uncle the Count d'Aure, who fought in Egypt and Santo Domingo; and his uncle Hippolyte, who followed Napoleon into Russia and later held ministerial positions during the July Monarchy and the Second Republic. "In my childhood and youth," Passy explained in his autobiography, "I might easily have been drawn towards militarism." But listening to the war stories told by the Count d'Aure and reflecting upon the French conquest of Algeria caused Passy to consider the harmful effects war had on the material and moral condition of humanity. 5 Although he was trained in law, his interest turned increasingly to moral and political economy. His influences, as he contemplated the problems of war and peace, included the liberal economists and proponents of free trade Richard Cobden and Frédéric Bastiat, the American abolitionists, and the champion of Irish Catholic emancipation, Daniel O'Connell. Under the intellectual tutelage of these figures, Passy wrote, "individual liberty, the sacred character of human life, the inviolability of conscience, respect for work, property, and trade became dogmas for me." 6Passy became particularly influenced by Bastiat's faith that unrestricted commerce would harmonize interests among nations and ensure peace.

PASSY, APOSTLE OF PEACE

Inspired by Bastiat, in 1849, Passy left his rather enviable position as an auditor in the Council of State to embark on a career as an economist. He refused to swear the oath of allegiance to Napoleon III, however, and therefore forfeited any chance to secure a permanent full-time position in education or government during the 1850s60s. He was married in 1848, and the wealth of his wife, Blanche (née Sageret), fortunately allowed Passy the freedom to write and lecture. He did so prodigiously during this period, publishing Mélanges économiques (1857), De la propriété intellectuelle (1859), Leçons d'économie politique (1861), La Démocratie et l'instruction (1864), and Les Machines et leur influence sur le développement de l'humanité (1866). Many of these books were collections of the various courses on economy and education that he offered as an itinerant lecturer at universities in Pau, Montpellier, Bordeaux, and Nice. These occurred under the patronage of Michel Chevalier, who was co-architect, with Cobden, of the famous free-trade treaty of 1860 during the liberal period of the Second Empire. Passy gained a reputation as a skilful speaker; his qualities as an orator were remembered vividly in one of the eulogies offered after his death: he possessed "impeccable" phrasing, "perfect mastery" of timing, a voice that was "warm, vibrant, naturally moving," and he had "a proud disdain for theatrics." Above all, Passy projected a "candid sincerity" that inspired in his audience the belief that they were listening to "a living conscience…who made of each speech, even the simplest toast…, a very noble, intelligent, and comforting spectacle." 7It is not clear whether he was aware of the series of international peace congresses held between 1843 and 1850, but Passy first became involved in the peace movement in the 1850s. 8 In addition to writing to the 1850 Frankfurt Peace Congress, Passy's idol, Bastiat, had participated in the 1849 Peace Congress held in Paris, joining the journalist Émile de Girardin to present an analysis of how the misuse of capital for the military hindered the development of domestic prosperity. Victor Hugo had delivered a stirring speech during the same congress, in which he predicted the eventual emergence of a "United States of Europe." Passy did not take part in these gatherings, however. It was war in the Crimea and in Italy that ultimately inspired him to action. He concluded that "the greater part of humanity's miseries were so much the product of our own fault that it could only be up to us to make them disappear," and he regarded the press as a powerful instrument of education for the cause of peace. In 1859, he conceived a plan for a journal devoted entirely to "pacific propaganda," which resulted in a brief collaboration, in 1863, with Edmond Potonié, another French pioneer of the European peace movement, on a bilingual (French-English) periodical, Le Courrier International. In a letter to Potonié, Passy pointed to "the necessity of a common action of enlightened and dedicated men of all nations in order to prepare and assure [a] future...where fair-minded and wise sentiments will prevail..., a future of growing peace, justice, and solidarity..."9 A fundamental belief in the efficacy of education and the positive role of public opinion in preventing war and ending the armed peace in general fuelled his decision to call for the establishment of an organization towards those ends. In 1867 he founded, with a group of friends, La Ligue internationale et permanente de la paix, the title of which was afterward changed to Société française des amis de la paix, and which exists at present under the name of La Société francaise pour l'arbitrage entre nations. The Interparliamentary Union was due to the joint initiative of Sir Randal Cremer and M. Passy It held its first meeting in 1888 at Paris, where it was definitely organized, and from 1889 it has regularly met. This union in favor of the peaceful settlement of international disputes has exercised a powerful influence in debate, in shaping policy, and in securing the consideration, if not the actual acceptance, of peaceful settle-ment of international differences. Of its many services two may be mentioned: the so-called Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague is due in large measure to the project of the Interparliamentary Union of the year 1894, and the proposals for a general arbitration treaty, dis-cussed so earnestly at the Second Hague Conference, were based upon the labors of the Interparliamentary Union10 .

Frederic Passy was a passionate disciple of Bastiat using in his pacifist propaganda often arguments from Bastiat . Passy sees false mercantilist or protectionist designs the main sources of warmongering. Passy refuted claims that war strengthened the nation by expanding its commercial and territorial wealth and developing its moral character through an infusion of "manly" and energetic virtues. He invoked the liberal economic argument that military pursuits wasted valuable capital for unproductive purposes; he denied the alleged productive stimulus that war provided; and he questioned whether conquest had truly benefited Russia in Poland, Great Britain in Ireland, or France in Algeria. Nor was the force of arms the proper method to open new markets.

He asserts that only disappear gradually most of the causes that lead to war will disappear with them. As trade barriers are also legal barriers, lower ones is to weaken the others . Any obstacle opposed to the movement of goods is a hindrance to the movement of people and leads to maintain prejudice and hatred while ignoring neighbors ,. Thus, the restrictive system creates an atmosphere conducive to war .

While the prohibition disunited , exchange unites and reconciles men. With the proliferation of trade relations, the need for order , without which there is no business, develops. Between nation and nation , as between man and man in a city , trade teachs to consider the public peace, inner and outer, as the first good.

Men began by hating from tribe to tribe and still ended up forming large national units . This peace process is not yet finished. People will eventually extend peace beyond their borders; "And the day will come said Passy11 , it comes, I hope that any European war is a civil war, until any war whatsoever , will be ostracized by humanity as a crime against the human race. "

Nothing can contribute more effectively to this result than frequent business transactions. International trade shows better than any other factor the economic nonsense of military conflicts .

War , says Passy , is no longer just a crime , it is an absurdity. It is not only immoral and cruel , it 's stupid . It is not only the largest murder , it is suicide and voluntary ruin " 12He observed that economic interests -most often misunderstoodbring nations struggling 13 . . But free trade tends to remove these misunderstandings ! "One day all the lights fall ; one day the human race , united at any time by incessant transactions, will be only one shop , one market , one family " 14 Everything seems to him at the time of the modern economy , conspiring to impede war to impose and perpetuate peace. Among the causes of international concord the most active and compelling is the extension of free trade.

" And that is , he concludes, [ ..] the greatness , truth , nobility, I would almost say the sanctity of the doctrine of free trade ; it tends , by the prosaic but effective pressure of interest, to bring justice and harmony in the world " 15The bulk of Passy's arguments comes from clearly from Bastiat, whreas it is difficult to understand the consistence of Christian feelings which permeate all his writings with the sanctification of free trade. Passy in his conferences to the Association polytechnique concedes some truth to the objections to technical progress exposed by Sismondi and Buret but on the whole he sticks to Bastiat's argument "" . That Which Is Seen and That Which Is Unseen which is reproduced at the end of Passy's book. Despite his support to technical progress, he found in the development of weapons an argument for peace.

the evil was formerly less apparent, the field of carnage less extended, the swiftness of the massacre less overwhelming, the consequences to labor, industry and commerce less manifest and less crushing. The horror has become more visible, and at the same time the qualities which war, as any struggle, may develop in the human soul have be come less habitual and less necessary. In truth, man no longer fights ; he directs destructive machines which fight for him and against him. As at Chicago in the slaughter houses into which the animals brought from all quarters are tumbled, the pigs taken at the entrance by the pitiless machinery are turned out at the exit in the form of hams, lard and sausage ; so with that prodigious machinery which to-day constitutes the enginery of war, the armies without having time to recognize each other, in case they shall have the misfortune to attack each other, will be transformed in a few moments into gory mire and lacerated flesh. And, more horrible still, they will, in a greater or less degree, suffer this experience on both sides at the same time. The unconscious machinery will do its work on both sides without thought of the men who shall have put it in motion. What place is there in all that for hero ism ? What becomes of that poetry, terrible but real and imposing, of the ancient combats, in which the coolness, the ardor, the tenacity, the inspiration of an officer or of a soldier changed the fortune of the day and left to history immortal names like those of a Winkelried, an Assas, a Latour d'Auvergne or of a Desais ? (1894) 16Eventually we can refer to present an disillusioned evaluation of Passy's achievements we can look at another advocate of peace coming from the opposite political side, Jean Jaurès. As socialism was on the rise in France and Europe, Jaurès wrote that Passy was "opposed to any government intervention in social relations and especially to legal limitation of the working day, even for adult males; social insurance based on the obligation; legal determination of the minimum wage". Besides Jaurès observed that "economic freedom, laissez faire, laissez passer, free competition leads to great private monopolies, cartels and trusts which pretend to regulate production and prices, and often are successful. All that economic liberalism had dreamed is denied". But Jaurès in an ecumenical stance concluded that what was tender, human, idealist in the large peaceful dream of Frédéric Passy will complement and soften the harsh peace affirmation of the militant proletariat »

LÉON WALRAS: DEFENCE OUT OF ECONOMIC LAW

We turn now our attention to another French economist who candidated to the Nobel prize. Léon Walras, like J.B. Say, considers that economists must reveal the real laws governing the economy. Governments will gradually become aware that laissezfaire and free trade lead to the general economic equilibrium and to world peace, which represents the crowning achievement of economics.

Like the English classical authors of the eighteenth century, Walras acknowledges that State intervention is justified in a few important areas where the law of supply and demand does not apply, notably in national defence. He was writing in a strained political context, with war between France and Germany, and in a theoretical context marked by the influence of the German historical school which seemed to justify the implementation of aggressive foreign policies. Walras was already thinking of saving capitalism. He suggests another alternative to the one existing between individualism and communism, between liberalism and socialism. He wishes to implement a new economic theory, in three stages: first, a pure political economy must be elaborated, then a social political economy and finally an applied political economy. Only once a pure political economy, a social political economy and finally an applied political economy have been successively established will governments be able to found their political action on the conclusions drawn by economists. Far from wanting to settle a cold science against the unreliable assertions of the supporters of colonialism and protectionism, Walras aspires to scientifically create a new ideal and new dogmas, indispensable to 'inspiration', and thus to social progress. Yet, it is the search for universal peace that underlies his scientific project.

We shall first present the Walrasian conception of defence but also of economic security which represents a central element of the author's scientific project. We shall then expound on Walras' conception of pacifism; the universal search for peace is, in fact, the determining argument of his demonstration in favour of the State's appropriation of lands, which should mark the end of the trade liberalization process.

Defence and economic security: the double point of view of scientific reason and political reason

In the same way as Adam Smith, Léon Walras concedes that defence imperatives can sometimes justify infringements of free trade. He also leaves the leading of the foreign economic policy to 'politicians' as this does not concern economists. Walras (1896: 144) believes that the State is not simply a group of individuals but that it has its own existence, that it guarantees freedom and thus that the search for a greater economic freedom cannot be an argument in favour of its rejection. He claims scientific legitimacy for exceptions to laissez-faire, mainly concerning the production of public goods and monopolies. The army and the police, guarantors for national independence and security, must be maintained, as with all public utilities. In these sectors, a free-market economy won't succeed in satisfying the demand, which is not individual but collective. Walras asserts that, in this case, as for monopolies, State intervention is a 'scientific rational fact, justified in terms of equity or utility'. He distinguishes State intervention 'based on politics' from the one 'based on theory and science', which refers to the difference between 'ideal and reality ' (1875: 220). Walras' theory is to scientifically establish a new ideal of society. On this matter, he declares: 'From a scientific point of view, I am socialist', because of a relative similarity of 'inspiration ' (1896: 22). The society's ideal (which varies according to historical periods) is what determines the nature of the relations between the individual and the State. Furthermore, Walras defines the ideal of a society by referring to two notions: equality and freedom (1896: 146). Whereas, in Antiquity, the individual was sacrificed to the State, the spiritualist ideal of the Middle Ages inaugurated the sacrifice of the State to the individual, notably with the numerous wars led by the Lords. According to Walras, between these two extreme examples it is necessary to find 'a new ideal foreseen by our fathers, which reconciles freedom and authority in order, equality and inequality in justice ' (1896: 147). Therefore, Walras thinks that the modern era must give a new meaning to state intervention, with the revelation of the real scientific laws ruling economy, which would result in the establishment of a new ideal. Yet State intervention is not scientifically justified in the case of commercial treaties or protectionist measures, nor even when the economy's security is at stake. Walras hopes to definitively eliminate the liberal economists' ambiguity on this subject, like Adam Smith's position on the Act of Navigation, for example. Historical examples certainly show that interventionism has sometimes benefited national industry, like the Act of Navigation, Colbert's protectionist measures or the establishment of the Zollverein. However, this is only a 'political' truth, and not an 'economic truth ', i.e. a 'scientific truth' (1892: 172). As stated by Walras, the law of supply and demand suggests that 'the best organization of the divided work is freedom'. Consequently, the history of economic facts is not only deduced from the knowledge of the scientific laws governing the economy. Customs and politics are decisive factors explaining the industrial development of various societies in history. Nevertheless, there is, at all times and in all places, only one single scientific truth. The recognition that 'the personal faculties of men are the natural object of individual property' (1892: 172) is one of them; slavery is thus always reprehensible, even if it represented an economic necessity for antique civilizations, Egyptian, Greek and Roman.

Yet a State which would implement political and commercial measures only pragmatically, from the observation of concrete facts, without referring to economic principles, would run the risk of being weakened:

Applied to science as well as to politics, empiricism prevents revolutions but highly favours illegal seizures of power because it destroys the principles and leaves a clear field to all the attempts capable of succeeding. In the absence of principles, everything gives in to success.

(1892: 171) Indeed, Walras condemns the German economists, who give no advice Passy -Walras 21 as to political economy but only describe economy. He also condemns the idea that economics can be national: considerations of economic policy concern politics and not science. Walras thus declares:

The Germans' national political economy is a confused hotchpotch of political economy and German policy; it is possible that politically such or such country in general and Germany in particular, has specific reasons for protecting its industries; but the German policy is no concern of ours. (1883/89: 607)

Walras admits that, in certain circumstances, such as 'the intervention of foreign competition', or 'the introduction of machines', the State can take measures in order 'to ease subsequent temporary crises' (1875: 221). In the same way, it would be impossible to abolish the protecting system all at once, without having disastrous effects on several industries, with a sudden movement of production factors. Therefore, State intervention can sometimes be justified for political reasons, but never for theoretical or scientific reasons. Walras thus presents protectionism as a consequence of all past wars: each country, in wartime, establishes protections which favour an artificial development of industries. With the return of peace, the wish to keep on protecting these 'artificial' industries prevents the removal of these restrictive measures (1883/89).

For the first time in the history of economic thought, the separation between theory and practice, between economics and politics, is clearly established. Therefore, defence, which is not ruled by economic laws, should not be studied by economists. This doesn't mean Walras was not interested in contemporary economic realities. On the contrary, once economists have solved all the theoretical enigmas raised by economic facts, they will be able to provide governments with the appropriate instruments to run the national economy and trade. In the same way as in physics, economic laws are valid at all times and in all places, and are irrefutable. But their discovery can only result from a perpetual comparison between theory and practice.

World peace as the ultimate outcome of economics: between free trade and 'scientific socialism' Walras considers world peace in the long term as the crowning achievement of economic science. He links this objective to the one of land collectivization. The subject of international peace is essential to understand Walras' scientific ambition: he gave considerable importance to his research on 'applied economics' throughout his work.

Walras uses the world peace argument to explain his two main purposes: the individual property of personal faculties and the collective property of lands.

As regards the first purpose, Walras resorts to colonization. Economic theory should help in avoiding wars and massacres which have characterized all the colonizing enterprises. He distinguishes two kinds of colonization: the colonial system of the eighteenth century, which was reprehensible economically as well as morally; and modern colonization, such as the North American example, which has very positive economic results (even if the indigenous populations were massacred) (1860/1: 164-175).

Regarding his second purpose, in a text entitled La paix par la justice sociale et le libre-échange (Peace Through Social Justice and Free Trade) (1907), Walras demonstrates the legitimacy of land collectivization, and considers that world peace will accompany the definitive outcome of research on the real scientific laws of economy. The fact that Walras associates social justice with free trade evokes the simultaneous search for equality and freedom, these two characteristics defining, as we previously mentioned, the ideal of society. By way of introduction to this work, Walras summarizes his project thus:

The following theory (individual property of personal faculties and collective property of land) is a theory which has been acknowledged by major economists, and also by a few socialists but none of them have rigorously established it on a scientific and philosophical basis. [. . .] During these last three years I have tried to give it all its scope and all its significance by showing, in the complete abolition of taxes, which it is the only one to allow, the means to establish absolute free trade and, by this very fact, to ensure universal peace. (1907: 467) Walras states that free trade will be quickly established worldwide when economists have revealed the irrefutable scientific proofs of its superiority. This method would be more effective than all commercial treaties and customs unions in favour of international trade liberalization. And, in fact, he aspires to demonstrate that the State can have incomes even without a fiscal system, and that it is possible to give up protectionism without any economic damage. He therefore calls on governments to act in favour of the development of human sciences (which includes economics), by assigning the credits necessary for state education, in particular for university education (1871: 375). These sciences must progress as much as natural sciences do, because they are essential to the 'humanitarian social question' and because revealing economy's real laws will enable democracies to avoid numerous wars or revolutions. Walras presents world peace as a conceivable objective for the generations to come, and not as a very long-term objective. He even foresees that only two European countries, Germany and Russia, will hinder the generalization of free trade and the abolition of armies. Not only do Russian and German policies give too much importance to interventionism, but most of all they threaten the security of modern democracies with their projects of territorial annexation, conquests and military supremacy. While he foresees, for the democracies gradually won over to national principles of economic freedom and free trade, the progressive abolition of permanent armies and international agreement among national parliaments, with dispute settlement by arbitration, Walras worries about the fact that Germany and Russia could hinder such a project. He therefore hopes that they will soon adopt the constitutional system (of government):

Humanity will enter at that moment an era of work and wealth prepared by the progress of physics and natural sciences as well as by the one of moral and political sciences. This is the socialists' dream, and it is also ours. (1879: 403) Walras' pacifism may appear only slightly original, with regard to the previous works of the liberals on this subject since the eighteenth century. However, the fact that this search for world peace is strongly connected to the author's project of establishing a real economic 'science', with results as spectacular as in natural sciences. First, according to Walras, world peace, a condition and consequence of the implementation of free trade, is conceivable in the immediate future, as long as everybody agrees to submit to economic scientific laws. Second, because the ambiguity between humanity's long-term interest to always and everywhere defend the principle of laissez-faire and the necessity to not compromise national economic defence and security, by unilaterally abolishing hindrances to free trade, is at last clarified: the scientific truth is absolute, it is the same at any time and everywhere and it recommends State non-intervention, except in the main preserves, especially defence and state education. Political truth is relative, it varies according to countries and to the national and international environment, and can justify protectionism. However this is only a 'practical' matter and doesn't concern economic science: in this respect, economists must leave these matters to the politicians. Walras was far from being an internationalist diehard. Curiously in the context of his candidacy he asserts that "free trade is the scientific ideal" and he adds that "it is not difficult to prove that the transformation of services into products under the regime of free competition in the production and exchange spheres, leads to the maxima satisfaction of needs between nations" as it has proven between individuals" (pp. 480-1). But this demonstration has been performed in the realm of pure economics and practically there could appear serious divergences "as the productive services provided by the import industries should be transferred towards the export industries." This operation could be especially detrimental to the workers. For

Walras wonders if what is fair inside a country, is also fair from one country to another.

Has the seller of a service a natural right to sell abroad if the service is worth more abroad than at home ? And has the buyer of a service he a natural right to buy abroad if the service is worth less abroad than at home ? I would , for my part, a proper and rigorous demonstration could be provided instead of fables or jokes how " sparkling " they could be. I am a European worker; I did my military service and I pay heavy taxes . Does Justice require me to sell my work at the same price as a Hindu or Chinese who not support such loads ? Abolish taxes, and then the game may be equal . (Walras p. 493).

Conclusion

The French liberal school had well established dogmas and free trade was one of them as it was already the case for the Physiocrats, both schools were confident that international trade was the best hindrance to war. Cournot already challenged the benefits of free trade to the point of engaging in lax mathematical demonstrations as pointed by Irving Fisher. but Walras' argument is still more devastating as he sustains that free trade does not affect all economic actors in the same way and that workers have good reasons not to be convinced by free trade merits. Passy for his part has never claimed to contribute to economic theory and his commitment to peace stemms as much from religious beliefs than from economic rationality. Neither the one that got the Nobel peace prize nor the one who did not get could convince the world of the merits of peace or warn against the evils of approaching war.

  Competition itself will bring together individuals, families, classes, nations and races, united by universal brotherhood relations [. . .] (1864: 385) Superficial thinkers have accused Competition of introducing antagonism among men. This is true and inevitable, if we consider men only in the capacity of producers, but regarded from another point of view, as consumers, the matter appears in a very different light. You then see this very Competition binding together individuals, families, classes, nations, and races, in the bonds of universal fraternity. http://mises.org/books/bastiat2.pdf (341) 1The tendency to despoilment is inherent to human nature, therefore war is a permanent feature in the history of humanity. But Bastiat was convinced that perpetual peace was not imaginary. He left unfinished the passage entitled 'How war finishes', which ends with the following sentence:

	10	Alcouffe-Coulomb
	limited sense which I gave, if this one should not, in the long run,
	dethrone that one. . .
		(1864: 581)
	Despoilment, like Production, having its source in human heart, the
	laws of the social world would not be harmonious, even in the
	1

Bastiat

For Bastiat, the economist's role is to accelerate the awareness of public opinion to uselessness of wars. The progress of sciences, industry and fine arts increase the feeling among peoples that peace has beneficial effects. The development of international trade and communication guarantees a widely spread feeling of community. Europe and the United States lead the world towards the general adoption of a representative system, which is by definition favourable to peace, because decisions to wage wars can only result from a 'long, solemn, thoughtful consideration, in State councils where the main interests of the country are heard'. Besides, the bankers and traders' support is essential in the financing of war; yet, they are often hostile to war (1858: 239). Bastiat devoted a chapter of Harmonies économiques (Economic Harmonies) (1864) to the question of war. However, this unfinished chapter gives little explanation as to a possible future pacification of international relations. But he recognizes that the principle of interest could just as well lead a country to take possession of a neighbour's wealth by force, or to develop its own wealth through production. This is what distinguishes 'despoilment' from 'production', and 'peoples of despoilers' from 'peoples of workers'.

Frédéric Bastiat, "Paix et liberté, ou Le Budget républicain" (1849), Oeuvres complètes, v.5 (Paris: Guillaumin et Cie., 1854), pp.459-60.

Ibid., p.467.

Frédéric Bastiat, "Lettre au Congrès de la Paix"(1850), ibid., v.1, p.198.

F. Passy, Pour la paix, 2-3. The French had seized Algeria in 1830.

Ibid., 4. Cobden, an English statesman, and Bastiat, a French economist, both advocated the eradication of tariffs and other policies intended to protect domestic industries. Cobden actually succeeded in securing a free-trade agreement between England and France in 1860. In 1829 the repeated electoral successes of O'Connell, an Irish Catholic landlord and lawyer, induced the British Parliament to eliminate the oath requiring MPs to swear to defend the Church of England, a requirement that, in practice, prohibited Catholics from sitting in Parliament. He later pursued an unsuccessful campaign to repeal the Act of Union (1801) that politically united Ireland with England. His tactics included "monster meetings" that drew hundreds of thousands of supporters as well as the vengeance of the British government, which had him arrested and convicted of conspiracy. His conviction was later overturned.

Jules Prudhommeaux and Théodore Ruyssen, "Frédéric Passy," La Paix par le droit [PPD] 11 (10 June 1912), 359.

See Cooper, Patriotic Pacifism, 22-30, for a summary of these peace congresses.

F. Passy to Potonié, 9 December 1863, quoted in Passy, Pour la paix, 7.

Frederic Passy The American Journal of International Law, Vol. 6, No. 4 (Oct., 1912), pp. 975-976

PASSY, F., BERTIN, E.-S., & GLAIZE, P. (1861). Leçons d'économie politique faites à Montpellier 1860-1861. Montpellier, Gras. Voir pp. 577-8

[START_REF] Passy | La Question de la paix[END_REF]. La Question de la paix, par Frédéric Passy. Paris, au bureau de la Société francaise pour l'arbitrage. P. 68.

[START_REF] Passy | Les Causes économiques des guerres[END_REF]. Les Causes économiques des guerres. Paris, aux bureaux de la Grande revue.(p. 438)

PASSY, F. (1866) La liberté commerciale in THÉVENIN, E., COURCELLE-SENEUIL, J.-G., COQ, P., & PASSY, F. (1866). Cours d'économie industrielle. Paris, Hachette. (p. 251)

Passy (1861, p. 582

The Peace Question, Monde économique, Paris, Jan. 1, 1894 English translation, The Adocate ofPeace, vol. LVI, Boston, April, 1894, No 4,


The impact of digital technologies on perceptions of proximity

Bastien Bernela*, Marie Ferru*, Alain Rallet* Draft, January 2019 * CRIEF, University of Poitiers, bastien.bernela@univ-poitiers.fr ** CRIEF, University of Poitiers, marie.ferru@univ-poitiers.fr *** RITM, University of Paris Sud, Paris Saclay, alain.rallet@u-psud.fr

Introduction: from objective to perceived proximity

The approach developed by the research group "Proximity Dynamics" (RERU, 1993) seeks to avoid reducing space to distance and transportation costs [START_REF] Bellet | Approches multiformes de la proximité[END_REF], and to deliver a qualitative characterization of distance through a more complex understanding of proximity. In an attempt to enrich the concept of proximity and expand it to embrace various forms of coordination, the authors introduce different types of proximity (Torre and [START_REF] Rallet | Proximity and localization[END_REF][START_REF] Boschma | Proximity and innovation. A critical assessment[END_REF]. The concept of proximity thus loses its exclusively geographical character, and needs to be distinguished from the notion of co-location.

In this context, the authors of the group have from the very outset stressed the crucial importance of perceptions of space. However, this latent program has not been kept in most subsequent empirical contributions by the "Proximity Dynamics" group, where a tendency towards objectivism (i.e. the assignation of proximity to pure objective contents) can be observed. Literature on proximity thus generally measures objective forms of proximity, although perceived proximity is also important in explaining actors' behaviors. Perception issues are crucial to understand socio-economic coordination issues arising between actors; for instance, this question is at the heart of the debate in the geography of innovation, when discussing constraints affecting interactions between partners in collaborative projects. From this perspective, we examined the growing development of digital technologies and the ways in which it can affect the actors' behavior (namely, the way they interact) and their perceptions of proximity (looking for instance at the increasing ease with which people can interact remotely).

The objective of this chapter is to analyze the impacts of the current digital revolution on proximity through the changes it brings about in the perception of proximity. In this chapter, we mainly focus on the perception of geographical proximity.

The first section is dedicated to an analysis of the perception of geographical proximity. We suggest that three determinants can affect this perception: distance obviously, but also constraints related to F2F interaction, as well as the effects of non-geographical proximity. In this perspective, we examine different types of literature -geography, sociology and psychology -, highlighting the contributions and evolutions brought by the multidisciplinary work of the group "Proximity Dynamics". The second section shows how the development of ICT has modified the perception of geographical proximity through its impact on these three determinants. We review literature on this issue among studies on proximity and related works. Finally, in the third section, we address an open issue by taking into account the impacts of the most recent generation of digital technologies on spatio-temporal representations of proximity. This leads us to propose a new concept of proximity: "proximity on the move", at the crossroads of mobility and proximity.

Geographical proximity as perceived proximity

As various social sciences have shown, the position of actors in space is not only a matter of rationality and objective factors but also a matter of how these actors represent themselves. The work of the "Proximity Dynamics" group forms part of this trend, as it highlights the importance of perceptions of space.

According to literature on this topic, the perception of geographical proximity is mainly based on three elements: distance, face-to-face constraints and feedback effects between types of proximity. a) First of all, the perception of proximity is related to distance, which itself depends on the perception of movement. On this first point, according to "proximist" literature, distance is relative to transportation costs and time. From this perspective, Torre and [START_REF] Rallet | Proximity and localization[END_REF] consider that two actors are considered as close if they can meet physically every day. A 300 km train journey between two cities may be faster than going from the south to the north of a metropolitan area. According to the authors, geographical proximity is also related to the assessment made by individuals, which consists in considering all the parameters that influence distance. This set of parameters includes objective data (km, time, price) but also the perceptions held by individuals (Torre and [START_REF] Rallet | Proximity and localization[END_REF]. Proximity is for instance related to the stress experienced as a result of distance [START_REF] Bourdeau-Lepage | Proximités et interactions : une reformulation[END_REF]: the possibility of meeting once a day may be perceived differently depending on the person, his/her age, social group, gender, occupation, etc. For the first time, such works finally presented the intuition that perceptions matter; however, in their further empirical developments, the authors propose an axiomatic measure (near vs. distant) or an objective one (km, time, costs) that negates their initial insights.

The analysis of perceptions of distance has been further developed by other social sciences and primarily by geographers, although this discipline mainly focused on the physical materiality of space. Building on the one hand on Simon's thesis on limited rationality and on the other on psychologists' work on cognitive biases, American geographers developed the "geography of perception" in the 1950s [START_REF] Golledge | Behavioral geography and the theoretical/quantitative revolution[END_REF][START_REF] Gould | Mental maps[END_REF]. In the 1970s, French geographers also argued for a geographical analysis focused on the perception of space (Frémont, 1974[START_REF] Frémont | L'espace vécu[END_REF]Claval, 1974;[START_REF] Bailly | La perception de l'espace urbain. Les concepts, les méthodes d'étude, leur utilisation dans la recherche urbanistique[END_REF][START_REF] Bailly | Subjective distances and spatial representations[END_REF]Bailly, , 1990)), leading to numerous debates on the relationship between subjective and objective categories of space.

The "geography of perception" is basically based on the idea that an individual perceives information depending on previously acquired knowledge and experience, which in turn have been built from previous actions or perceptions. This transformation of information produces a subjective representation of reality, which influences individual decisions [START_REF] Zenker | Innovation, perception and regions: Are perceptions of the environment related to firms' innovation behaviours? The cases of Alsace and Baden[END_REF]. The emphasis is placed on cognitive aspects and interactions between the individual and the social context within a territorial context. In methodological terms, the "geography of perception" uses various methods from declarative questionnaires to the examination of novels, speeches, reports and practices that provide complementary representations of space. Cartography as an instrument was adapted to integrate the perception of distances through anamorphic maps; mental maps were also developed as a subjective spatial investigation model [START_REF] Gould | Mental maps[END_REF].

More recently, a relatively abundant literature has developed on the geography of transport [START_REF] Vos | Travel and subjective wellbeing : a focus on findings, methods and future research needs[END_REF], expanding the scope of the perception of distance to include well-being. Authors seek to measure the levels of well-being associated with movement (i.e. the concept of "satisfaction with travel scale" (De [START_REF] Vos | How satisfying is the Scale for Travel Satisfaction?[END_REF]) and to analyze the explanatory factors associated with this well-being; and conversely, the impact of distance on the general wellbeing of individuals or on transport-related behaviors such as modal choices (De [START_REF] Vos | Travel satisfaction revisited. On the pivotal role of travel satisfaction in conceptualising a travel behaviour process[END_REF]. b) Once the distance has been traveled (i.e. the co-location has been made possible, at least temporarily), authors agree that physical contact provides an incomparable sensory perception of the actor you are coordinating with (for instance, a partner in a research collaboration). As explained by [START_REF] Urry | Mobility and Proximity[END_REF], "historically, the social sciences have overly focused upon ongoing geographically propinquitous communities based on more or less face-to-face social interactions between those present". This conventional wisdom is based on the assumption that it is difficult to develop effective teamwork at a distance without any significant "facetime" [START_REF] Winger | Face-to-face communication: Is it really necessary in a digitizing world?[END_REF], considering the various advantages of face-to-face (F2F) interaction. This is because 1) F2F mitigates problems to do with incentives and free riding since it is easier to observe and interpret a partner's behavior in a F2F situation. 2) F2F interaction promotes the development of trust, based on reputation effects [START_REF] Gambetta | Trust[END_REF][START_REF] Lorenz | Trust and the Theory of Industrial Districts[END_REF]. 3) F2F interactions offer "an unusual capacity for interruption, repair, feedback, and learning" (Nohria and Eccles, 1992, p. 292). 4) Tacit knowledge can easiest be transmitted in a F2F context, which justifies the co-location of innovative firms [START_REF] Maskell | Localised learning and industrial competitiveness[END_REF]. This F2F thesis was relatively well developed by the authors of the "Proximity Dynamics" group. They specify that F2F interactions are all the more crucial for some specific tasks: for knowledge-intensive activities such as innovation processes, the more tacit the shared knowledge is and, the more F2F is required [START_REF] Aguiléra | Transmission des connaissances dans les relations de coopération interentreprises : TIC versus face-à-face[END_REF]. In addition, the more frequent the interactions between partners and the greater the need for F2F contact. As these characteristics (tacit knowledge, frequency of interactions) vary according to the innovation cycle, the F2F constraint depends on the stage of the project (Torre and [START_REF] Rallet | Proximity and localization[END_REF]Gallié and Guichard, 2005). An in-depth case study of technology transfer in the biotechnology sector by [START_REF] Gallaud | Geographical proximity and the diffusion of knowledge (The case of SME's in biotechnology)[END_REF] confirms these findings and reveals that for most partnerships, interactions are frequent during partner search and contract negotiationespecially when actors have very different knowledge bases and the project is loosely structured.

This F2F thesis has also been augmented by non-proximist research developed for instance by [START_REF] Bathelt | Clusters and knowledge: Local buzz, global pipelines and the process of knowledge creation[END_REF], [START_REF] Bathelt | Local, global and virtual buzz: The importance of face-to-face contact in economic interaction and possibilities to go beyond[END_REF], or [START_REF] Storper | Buzz: Face-to-face contact and the urban economy[END_REF]. The latter authors interestingly highlighted four main features of F2F interaction: it provides an efficient communication technology; it can help solve incentive problems as well as facilitating socialization and learning; and it provides psychological motivation. These authors also specify how F2F can be crucial in environments where information is imperfect, rapidly changing and not easily codified. In this context, "corporeal proximity in diverse modes appears to make travel necessary and desirable" [START_REF] Urry | Mobility and Proximity[END_REF]: the F2F thesis therefore justifies the actors' mobility. Indeed, mobility involves occasional, intermittent face-to-face conversations and meetings within certain places at certain moments that seem obligatory to some or all of the participants (…) To maintain trust, people need to -at least intermittentlymeet and experience the effervescence of this collaborative live performance (ibid.).

c) The perception of geographical proximity is also determined by the existence (or the absence) of other forms of proximity. Researchers have found that physical proximity explains no more than half of a person's feeling of "subjective distance" [START_REF] Coshall | Social psychological variations in the distance cognitions of urban consumers in Britain[END_REF]. This depends on the context in which the situation is performed as defined by Goffman (1991) -i.e. a form of representation of reality that guides individuals' perceptions. This work, initially developed by psychologists, echoes recent developments in management studies (Wilson et al., 2008;O' Leary et al., 2014;etc.), which define "perceived proximity as a dyadic and asymmetrical construct that reflects one person's perception of how close or how far another person is" (Wilson et al., 2008(Wilson et al., , p. 1222)). Research later examined the paradoxical phenomenon of the « Far-but-Close » and its contrary the « Close-but-Far » (Wilson et al., 2008). This paradoxical phenomenon refers to the notion that a person can feel quite distant despite being in close physical proximity, while another may seem quite close although he or she is far away in objective terms. The authors argued that one can perceive proximity differently depending on each individual's relative situation. The findings obtained by these research projects suggested that distance does not affect the quality of relationships in geographically distributed teams but perceived proximity does.

Proximist literature enriched this debate with an empirical dimension through the notion of "activating geographical proximity". Geographical proximity is not perceived as such if it is not activated by non-geographical proximity. For instance, Aguilera et al (2015) show that some firms declare that proximity played a role in their cooperation with a partner when the partner was geographically distant and, conversely, that proximity did not matter when the partner was geographically close. To be close to someone is not only to be next to him/her, but it can also mean having a strong connection with a geographically distant person, whether they belong to the same circle of friendship, family or business, or professional network (Torre and [START_REF] Rallet | Proximity and localization[END_REF]. Strong organized (or relational) proximity can not only "compensate" for geographical distance but also impact the perception of geographical proximity itself. This thesis of the non-independence of proximity enables authors to take into account the role of perceptions: the perception of geographical proximity is altered by other forms of proximity [START_REF] Amin | Architectures of Knowledge: Firms, Capabilities, and Communities[END_REF][START_REF] Rallet | Proximity and localization[END_REF] and by the past construction of their combination [START_REF] Ferru | La géographie des collaborations pour l'innovation : le rôle des contraintes de ressources et de mise en relation[END_REF]. For instance, geographical proximity is less necessary if partners in an innovative project share the same field of knowledge (cognitive proximity), are embedded in the same social network (relational proximity), belong to the same organization or community (organizational proximity) or are immersed in the same system of values (institutional proximity). These various types of proximity do not remove the need for geographical proximity but minimize the perception of its importance. This leads many authors to distinguish between actual and activated geographical proximity [START_REF]Proximity relations at the heart of territorial development processes. From clusters, spatial conflicts and temporary geographical proximity to territorial governance[END_REF]. This interdisciplinary literature review allowed us to highlight three determining factors in the perception of geographical distance. The next section will examine the crucial and growing role of ICT, and its impact on perceived forms of proximity.

Impacts of ICT on perceived proximity

In literature on proximity, this factor has been mainly addressed as a coordination issue (see the critical survey carried out by [START_REF] Rallet | Geography of innovation, proximity and beyond[END_REF]. As a result, ICT has been considered as means of communication enabling economic agents to better coordinate across different locations [START_REF] Galliano | ICT Intensity of Use and the Geography of Firms[END_REF]. This gave rise to a debate about ICT's ability to lift the constraint of physical proximity to support certain interactions (Aguilera and Lethiais, 2011). A radical but also more naive approach raised the question of whether ICT would announce the end of geography (O' Brien 1990& 1992[START_REF] Cairncross | The Death of Distance[END_REF], or in other words the end of the constraint of physical proximity. Criticism of this thesis (Morgan 2004, Torre and[START_REF] Rallet | Proximity and localization[END_REF] has given rise to many theoretical and empirical works since the 90s. This section will outline the main directions and findings of these works. Their conclusions converge on the need to maintain face-to-face (F2F) relations on the one hand, and on the geographical extension of remote coordination on the other. It is interesting to note that reaching these conclusions involved taking into account the subjective dimension of proximity. We show this using the analytical framework presented in section 1. However, this literature considers the impact of digital technologies from a limited and somewhat outdated point of view. Limited, because it is restricted to coordination problems within production or innovation processes. Outdated because it does not take into account new generations of technologies that are deeply changing relations to space. The second part of this section examines how these limits are interrelated.

2-1 The impacts of ICT on the three dimensions of perceived proximity

What are the impacts of ICTs on the perception of geographical proximity? In other words, what are its impacts on the factors that explain this perception: objective distance, the requirement of F2F contact, and the intensity of non-spatial proximity? a) On distance ICT is mainly considered as a means of coordination. As such, it makes coordination easier by providing communication tools (telephone, e-mail, professional messaging, videoconferencing, etc.) and access to corporate information systems (intranet or extranet) and databases, whether for long-distance or short-distance coordination. In earlier literature on the relation between ICT and distance -i.e. studies published between the 80s and the beginning of this century -, ICT was considered as having no effect on the perception of physical distance because, as a (new) means of coordination, it was supposed to compete with another well-known way of coordinating in physical space: travel. The question was to what extent ICT could replace travel as a means of coordination. [START_REF] Moktarian | If telecommunication is such a good substitute for travel, why does congestion continue to get worse?[END_REF]. Most empirical papers showed that ICT could not provide a substitute for most professional trips but that it did in itself induce new reasons to travel (on this literature, see for instance the survey conducted by Aguilera and al., 2009). In terms of perception, this means that distance matters as much as it did before, even if ICT changed the nature of the activities for which distance remained necessary. For instance, some meetings can now be held remotely using videoconferencing (substitution effect), but the development of remote coordination induces new reasons for moving to solve interaction issues that require face-to-face relations (complementarity effect).

b) On F2F

As shown previously, the need for F2F interaction in literature on proximity is mainly analysed in innovation studies. It is explained by the tacit share of knowledge involved in processes while codified knowledge, which is disembodied from individuals, can more easily be transmitted at a distance [START_REF] Cowan | The Economics of Codification and the Diffusion of Knowledge[END_REF]. During this period, ICT was represented as a tool used for formalizing coordination routines (e.g. written communication) and objects (e.g. shared databases). As a result, the use of ICT was associated with a codification of coordination. This implicit association (linked to representations of ICT that were predominent at the time but not perceived as such) led to a simple conclusion: ICT tends to reduce the need for face-to-face contact only if it makes it possible to codify a larger part of the knowledge incorporated in the innovation process by digitizing it. In this case, ICT enhances the possibilities of remote communication. But insofar as innovation constantly recreates tacit knowledge in the emergence stage of projects, F2F is required because ICT is not suitable for the transfer of tacit knowledge [START_REF] Wallet | On the role played by temporary geographical proximity in knowledge transmission[END_REF].

c) On non-geographical proximity

ICT reinforces the effects of non-geographical forms of proximity on perceived proximity by lowering the cost of their channels (e.g. the global pipelines, see [START_REF] Bathelt | Clusters and knowledge: Local buzz, global pipelines and the process of knowledge creation[END_REF]): digitization of shared cognition, strengthening of geographically dispersed social ties (community effect) or distant organizational links (messaging, information systems), diaspora effect (sharing cultural values throughout geographical areas).

By reducing the need for F2F contact at certain stages of innovation projects and by increasing the power of non-spatial proximity to overcome distance barriers, ICT tends to decrease the perceived importance of the constraint of physical proximity. However, these technologies do not upset spatial patterns. They only accentuate past trends: geographical proximity continues to matter through co-location or temporary proximity, but remote coordination appears on the rise.

2-2 From ICT to the digital era: new perceptions of proximity

The impacts of ICT were mainly analyzed as the effects of the means of coordination between given locations on dyadic or bilateral relations. However, nowadays, the impacts of the digital cannot be reduced to the effects of coordination means applied within a dyadic framework between predefined locations. Digital technologies and markets are i) developing multilateral platform-based coordination, ii) transforming our relationship to space-time with the development of mobile communication tools, iii) renewing the question of F2F with the development of remote co-presence and introducing other mobility issues.

i) The ability to coordinate all the stakeholders of an innovation or production project is presumably greater when these are located in a localized ecosystem than in dispersed ones, because geographic proximity reduces the transaction costs involved in establishing relationships. However, the "platformization" of industries, which is one of the central features of the digital economy, tends to lower these transaction costs independently regardless of the location of stakeholders (except for certain specific platforms such as C-to-C platforms for second-hand goods). Multilateral coordination can therefore be expected to play less in favor of localized ecosystems, even if the proximity constraint does not disappear. Little work has been done so far on the impact of digital platforms on the geography of ecosystems (see [START_REF] Agrawal | Crowdfunding: Geography, Social Networks, and the Timing of Investment Decisions[END_REF] about crowdfunding platforms); this issue needs to become part of the research agenda, to assess how local ecosystem building and "translocal platforms" can be interwoven today [START_REF] Bathelt | The creation of knowledge: local building, global accessing and economic development-toward an agenda[END_REF].

ii) Mobile communication tools induce another relationship to space-time. The ability to communicate remotely and thus to coordinate at a distance was limited by the need to establish a connection from fixed locations. This is no longer the case: communication tools make it possible to continue to communicate and work from any point in space when there is network coverage. This property directly impacts the perception of geographical proximity insofar as individuals feel distant (due to geography) but at the same time close (due to their connection), whereas in the past geography imposed a binary situation: to be near or to be distant, to be there or elsewhere. In other words, co-presence is no longer the monopoly of geographical proximity: digital technologies make it possible to be both here and elsewhere to a certain extent.

iii) It should be added that, simultaneously, means of communication are becoming "warmer" thanks to new tactile and visual interfaces that deeply modify the previous generation of computer technologies marked by keyboard culture and written codification. O' Leary et al. (2014) show that even shared meaning and symbolic value between people separated by large distances can be conveyed by information systems, forming strong bonds between individuals. The need for F2F does not disappear but, because co-presence is enriched by these new media, it is no longer the preserve of geographical proximity.

Two major transformations of geographical proximity result from this change:

-What happens to the F2F constraint in this context? On the one side, F2F still matters for some interactions; on the other side, more and more interactions that previously required physical contact can be performed at a distance. This split is expected to develop in many areas, including those that traditionally involved rich human interactions (health, education, services, etc.). The perception of geographical proximity is divided into an irreducible component (when "thick" co-presence involves body language, facial gestures, voice intonation, etc. as stressed by [START_REF] Urry | Mobility and Proximity[END_REF]) and a distant component (see above, the "Far-but-Close" paradox).

-Relations between proximity and mobility must be redesigned. According to the initial configuration, mobility s the way of recreating a specific type of proximity: temporary proximity. But during the transportation process, any form of proximity was interrupted (except for very poor communication). Nowadays, mobile digital technologies make it possible to continue to develop interactions with remote people while on the move. We must therefore introduce, alongside temporary proximity, another type of proximity linked to mobility.

3-"Proximity on the move" as a dynamic type of proximity

The perception of geographical proximity is today affected by the development of a new form of proximity: proximity on the move. This proximity is based on mobility but in a different sense from that of temporary geographical proximity.

There is a natural and reciprocal link between mobility and proximity. But in studies on proximity, mobility has been mainly addressed from the point of view of proximity. Mobility is indeed the way of achieving a specific form of proximity: temporary geographical proximity [START_REF] Wallet | On the role played by temporary geographical proximity in knowledge transmission[END_REF][START_REF] Bathelt | Between luminaires and meat grinders: international trade fairs as temporary clusters[END_REF]. However, no contribution has so far focused specifically on the link between mobility and proximity (except for [START_REF] Urry | Mobility and Proximity[END_REF] who can be considered as external to this literature). In particular, there has been no analysis of proximity from the point of view of mobility. We argue in this section that i) mobility is not only a means of crossing over a distance, but also a new form of proximity that needs to be taken into account, ii) the rapid development of proximity on the move is due to a new generation of ICT that is deeply changing our relation to space and time.

3-1 From temporary geographical proximity to proximity on the move

As we have just pointed out, in literature on proximity mobility is connected to proximity, of which it is a specific form. Corporeal travel is necessary to have a F2F relationship with other people located in a different place.

Figure 1: Temporary geographical proximity

By analogy with comparative static analysis, we propose to define temporary proximity as a static form of proximity: it is a time interval between two locations -in the same way that comparative static analysis studies relations between two different states without analyzing the motion that leads from one to the other. In terms of temporary proximity, moving from one place to another is only a means for people to restore physical proximity when it has been broken by distance. Coordination is interrupted during the duration of travel, which is only a Move of A1 to meet A2

time interval between two spatial modes of coordination, between fixed locations on one side (left part of the figure 1) and within co-location on the other (right part).

Besides temporary proximity, it is necessary to consider another side of mobility defined as a dynamic form of proximity. It means that mobility is the (moving) place from which interactions with other people take place. This is made possible by the fact that trips no longer interrupt these interactions thanks to the use of mobile digital tools and communication networks (except for plane travel for the moment, but not for long). These tools and networks allow people to be continuously linked to colleagues, partners and firms by providing instant access to their resources (information, documents, databases, software, work tools...). The connection that supports interactions tends to be permanent (relying on both asynchronous and synchronous tools) and ubiquitous, subject to the conditions of network coverage. The activities performed on the move are sometimes limited by the network speed or the power and ergonomics of end-user devices. But these limitations tend to fade with broadband mobile networks and the ever-increasing power of user-friendly communication devices. As a result, almost all of a person's daily activities (including work and interactions) can be carried out during transport [START_REF]Is the bus boring?[END_REF][START_REF] Ettema | How in-vehicle activities affect work commuters' satisfaction with public transport[END_REF] or in connected places on the route called "third places" (so called because they are neither the workplace, nor the place of residence [START_REF] Oldenburg | The Great Good Place: Cafes, Coffee Shops, Community Centers, Beauty Parlors, General Stores, Bars, Hangouts, and How They Get You Through the Day[END_REF]). A fundamental change has thus been introduced by the new generation of ICT: transportation can no longer be considered as lost time [START_REF] Lyons | Travel time use in the information age[END_REF]. This mobility should not be restricted to the traditional mobility of professional nomads (sales representatives, maintenance engineers, consultants, etc.) whose jobs are located outside their companies. Today, it potentially affects everyone and already represents a significant share of our daily time, although transport statistics do not measure it yet.

We characterize this "proximity on the move" as a dynamic form of proximity, not only because it takes place on the move but also because its nature is temporal. Temporary geographical proximity is spatial by definition: proximity is achieved when the locations of A and B match after a displacement (see above). In contrast, the very nature of proximity on the move is temporal : the locations of A and B do not match but their temporalities do. Interactions are made possible by the permanency of this connection, not by an intermittent co-location. There is no reference to these aspects in the work of economists, but some have been developed by sociologists [START_REF] Urry | Mobility and Proximity[END_REF] his "mobility turn"; Bauman, 2002, and his "liquid society"; Kaufman, 2002, and his neologism "motility").

3-2 Impacts of proximity on the move on perceived proximity

Considering proximity on the move modifies the three elements of the perception of geographical proximity described in the first section:

-Distance is no longer a spatial operator of separation but the moving place of a temporal proximity;

-Co-presence is no longer restricted to a spatial phenomenon but is also a temporal one (temporal continuity of co-presence, not limited to F2F); -The feedback effects of non-geographical proximity are reinforced: individuals are continually caught in a network of relationships that constantly solicit them (messaging, conf calls, collaborative tools…).

Conclusion

The issue of geographical proximity is too often covered in a simplistic way, considering that 1) distance is the only metrics of proximity, in a spatial/temporal separation perspective, 2) F2F requires temporary proximity to address coordination issues in the case of remote partners. ICT is consequently considered as a means of coordination, more often as a substitute to than as a complement for proximity. This chapter proposes to contribute to these recurring debates by introducing more complexity into the way geographical proximity is understood.

First, we refer to old concerns about the perception of proximity that have been progressively disregarded: proximity is not only a matter of distance but is also related to face-to-face constraints and feedback effects with non-geographical forms of proximity. Modern ICT has impacts on this perceived proximity, as the sophistication of mobile communication tools has modified our relation to space and time: the continuous connection allowed by mobile technologies invites us to consider a new form of proximity that we call proximity on the move. We define this form of proximity in a spatio-temporal and dynamic way, whereas temporary geographical proximity is only defined in a spatial and static way. Proximity on the move makes a kind of co-presence possible while the parties involved are physically distant: mobility is no longer a tool to bring temporary actors together but it becomes a dynamic environment for activity.

This analytical grid faces methodological and empirical challenges, since forms of proximity are difficult to capture in all their complexity. Conceptual advances have often been insufficiently explored empirically, because they are faced with issues to do with data availability and collection. In order to maintain the subjective character of spatial proximity, Carriou et al. (2018) propose for instance to better understand individuals' perceptions of proximity through their representations of the places in which they work or transit. Qualitative approaches and more precisely mental maps are used to capture these representations, but the large amount of collected data makes it possible for researchers to carry out quantitative treatments.