During the interwar period, French government tried to regulate the production and the sale of several industries to overwhelm the economic crisis occured in 1930s.
The purpose of this paper will be to analyse the controversies and the effects of the law which was called Loi Le Poullen. This Law of 1936 aimed to regulate the market of French shoe industry which suffered the overproduction. This analysis will inclued 4 sections.
Section I will be an analysis of the general situation of French shoe industry of 1930s. During this period, French shoe industry had the conflicts with foreign shoe makers, especially with those of Czecho-Slovakia.
The second section will include a look at the discussions about the characteristics of Loi Le Poullen in the House of Representatives and the Senate. This law was discussed in Feburary of 1936 and adopted almost unanimously, and became effective from the 22nd March of that year. It is decided by this law that not only the openning of factories, but also that of stores should be strictly controlled by the government.
The third section will analyse the arguments of renewal of Loi Le Poullen which arrived an end on March 1939 after two year's activities. Almost all the interested groups were agreed with it's renewal. The author examines the opinions of the professionnel associations of French shoe industry, National Economic Council and the Ministry of Commerce.
The fourth and the last section will be an examination of the real effects of the Loi Le Poullen. Analysing the documents deposited at National Archives at Paris, the author makes it clear that this law was very effective to controll the production and the sale of French shoe industry. This law succeeded to prevent the sudden fall of the prices of shoes in France. But it must be remembered also that this law was very favour to the technical innovations of the industry.

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