Jean-Marc Olivier

Jean-Marc Olivier is a French historian born in 1961 in the town of Champagnole (Jura).

He was director of the CNRS research group FRAMESPA (Social history from the Middle Ages to today) from 2005-2013.

His habilitation compared the French, Scandinavian, and Swiss cases of economic development in the 19th century.

He has written a number of books and articles on these subjects, and created the concept of "soft industrialization", a process by which small production units, often in rural areas, played a large role in the industrialization of Continental Europe in the 19th century.

His current research focuses more specifically on the history of aviation and industrialization in France, Switzerland, and Scandinavia over the longue durée.