Étienne Maurice Gérard, comte Gérard (4 April 1773 – 17 April 1852) was a French general and statesman. He served under a succession of French governments including the ancien regime monarchy, the Revolutionary governments, the Restorations, the July Monarchy, the First and Second Republics, and the First Empire (and arguably the Second), becoming Prime Minister briefly in 1834.

Born at Damvilliers, in Lorraine, he joined a battalion of volunteers in 1791, and served in the campaigns of 1792–1793 under Generals Charles François Dumouriez and Jean-Baptiste Jourdan.

In 1795, he served Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte as aide-de-camp. In 1799 he was promoted chef d'escadron, and in 1800 colonel.

He distinguished himself at the battles of Austerlitz and Jena, and was made Brigadier General in November 1806, and for his conduct in the battle of Wagram he was created a baron of the First French Empire.

In the Spanish campaign of 1810 and 1811, Gérard gained special distinction at the battle of Fuentes de Onoro; and in the expedition to Russia he was present at the battle of Smolensk and the battle of Valutino, and displayed such bravery and ability in the battle of Borodino that he was made général de division. He won further distinction in the disastrous retreat from Moscow.

Maurice Félix Charles Allais (31 May 1911 – 9 October 2010) was a French economist, and was the 1988 winner of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics "for his pioneering contributions to the theory of markets and efficient utilization of resources."

Born in Paris, France, Allais attended the Lycée Lakanal, graduated from the École Polytechnique in Paris and studied at the École nationale supérieure des mines de Paris. His academic and non-academic posts have included being Professor of Economics at the École Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Paris (since 1944) and Director of its Economic Analysis Centre (since 1946). In 1949 he received a Doctor-Engineer title from the University of Paris, Faculty of Science. He also held teaching positions at various institutions, including at the University of Paris X-Nanterre, and the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva.^{[citation needed]}

As an economist he made contributions to decision theory, monetary policy and other areas. He was reluctant to write in or translate his work into English, and many of his major contributions became known to the dominant anglophone community only when they were independently rediscovered or popularized by English-speaking economists. For example, in one of his major works, Économie et Intérêt (1947), he introduced the first overlapping generations model (later popularized by Paul Samuelson in 1958), introduced the golden rule of optimal growth (later popularized by Edmund Phelps) or described the transaction demand for money rule (later found in William Baumol's work). He was also responsible for early work in Behavioral economics, which in the US is generally attributed to Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky.

Saint Maurice (also Moritz, Morris, or Mauritius) was the leader of the legendary Roman Theban Legion in the 3rd century, and one of the favorite and most widely venerated saints of that group. He was the patron saint of several professions, locales, and kingdoms. He is also a highly revered saint in the Coptic Orthodox Church.

According to the hagiographical material, the legion, entirely composed of Christians, had been called from Thebes in Egypt to Gaul to assist Maximian to defeat a revolt by the bagaudae. However, when Maximian ordered them to harass some local Christians, they refused and Maximian ordered the unit punished. Every tenth soldier was killed, a military punishment known as decimation. More orders followed, they still refused, partly because of Maurice's encouragement, and a second decimation was ordered. In response to their refusal to use violence against fellow Christians, Maximian ordered all the remaining members of the 6,666 unit executed. The place in Switzerland where this occurred, known as Agaunum, is now Saint Maurice-en-Valais, site of the Abbey of Saint Maurice-en-Valais.

Gérard Larcher (born 14 September 1949) is a French politician who was President of the Senate of France from 2008 to 2011. A member of the center-right Union for a Popular Movement, he was a Senator for the Yvelines département from 1986 to 2004 and has been again since 2007.

Larcher was born in Flers, Orne to a Catholic family, but converted to Protestantism upon his marriage. He was a junior minister in the Ministry of Social Affairs and was the Mayor of Rambouillet from 1983 to 2004.

Following the September 2008 Senate elections, Larcher was endorsed for the position of President of the Senate by the majority UMP Parliamentary Group after a contest against former Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin. He was elected as President of the Senate on 1 October 2008 receiving 173 votes against 134 votes for Socialist candidate Jean-Pierre Bel.

Governmental function

Minister of Labor Relations : 2004-2005.

Minister of Employment, Labor and for employability of young : 2005-2007.

Electoral mandates