Jean-Paul Fitoussi (born 19 August 1942) is a French economist and sociologist of Sephardi Jewish descent. Born in La Goulette, Tunisia, Fitoussi earned his Ph.D. cum laude in Law and Economics from the University of Strasbourg. From 1979 until 1983, he was a professor at the European University Institute in Florence, and a visiting professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1984. He currently is a Professor of Economics at the Institut d'études politiques de Paris, where he has taught since 1982. He is also Professor Emeritus at LUISS "Guido Carli" University, in Rome. From 1989 to 2010 he served as President of the , an institute dedicated to economic research and forecasting. He has published numerous articles, books and essays. He is considered to be one of the intellec