simiand's career was unusual. like many destined to become influential academics in france, he entered the école normale supérieure and graduated in philosophy at the top of his class in 1896. however, he quickly became interested in law and economics and submitted a thesis on the wages of coal miners in france (1904) to the faculty of law rather than becoming an academic. as a result, he foreclosed forever the possibility of a prominent university appointment. thus in 1901 he became the librarian for the french ministries of commerce and labor, a post he held until the outbreak of world war i. from 1910 on he also taught economic history at the école pratique des hautes etudes, an institution which did not require a doctorate from its lecturers.