Thesis: It is common wisdom that central banks in the postwar (1945–1970s) period were passive bureaucracies constrained by fixed-exchange rates and inflationist fiscal policies. This view is mostly retrospective and informed by US and UK experiences. This book tells a different story. Eric Monnet shows that the Banque de France was at the heart of the postwar financial system and economic planning, and that it contributed to economic growth by both stabilizing inflation and fostering direct lending to priority economic activities. Credit was institutionalized as a social and economic objective. Monetary policy and credit controls were conflated. The thesis provides a historical analysis of the decisions of the Banque de France and the Conseil National du Crédit, a quantitative analysis of the effects of monetary policy and credit allocation, and a formal model of credit controls. It then extends its analysis to the functioning of the Bretton Woods system.