约瑟夫·卡约出生于卢瓦尔河地区萨尔特省勒芒，其父欧仁·卡约曾两度任保守派部长。在政治科学学院学习法律和文学，1886年获法学学士学位。后入财政部任财政副监督官，1888年在阿尔及尔担任财政监督官。在1898年作为共和党候选人竞选萨尔特省众议员，以12929票对11737票击败拉罗什富科-比萨恰公爵(Duc de la Rochefoucault-Bisaccia)当选为众议员。因具有理财家的名声，两次被任命担任瓦尔德克-卢梭和克列孟梭内阁的财政部长（1899—1902、1906—1909）。[1]他实行国家征收所得税等财政政策改革，尽管他试图征收所得税未果，但其他一些重要财政革却取得了成功。
^ This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh (编). Encyclopædia Britannica 第12版. London & New York: The Encyclopædia Britannica Company. 1922.
^J. F. V. Keiger, Raymond Poincaré (Cambridge University Press, 2002) p126; "Political Chaos France's Peril", New York Times, January 12, 1912
延伸阅读
Binion, Rudolph. Defeated leaders; the Political Fate of Caillaux, Jouvenel, and Tardieu, Columbia University Press, 1960.
Cooke, W. Henry. "Joseph Caillaux, Statesman of the Third Republic," Pacific Historical Review, Vol. 13, No. 3, Sep., 1944.
Gibbons, Herbert Adams. "The Case Against Caillaux." In France and Ourselves: Interpretative Studies, Chap. VIII, The Century Co., 1920.
Hamilton, Keith A. "The 'Wild Talk' of Joseph Caillaux: A Sequel to the Agadir Crisis," The International History Review, Vol. 9, No. 2, May, 1987.
