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France is often described as one of the last Western economies that has not been able to reform itself in the face of globalization. Yet its economy has not fallen by the wayside, and it has even resisted the great recession that began in 2008. By interlinking historical, economic, and political factors, and by comparing France with other nations, this book offers keys for understanding the puzzle found in the development of France. Dynamics at work in the French case sidestep the usual injunctions--less state control or less rigidity in the labor market--and instead stress the importance of the construction of a long-term industrial strategy.
List of contents
Foreword
Introduction
Chapter 1. Four Decades of an Industrial Revolution
Chapter 2. 1974–1981: The Creation of Mass Unemployment
Chapter 3. 1981–1986: The Socialists Try
Chapter 4. 1986–1993: From Hard to Soft Economic Liberalism
Chapter 5. 1993–2002 : “New” Effective Policies?
Chapter 6. 2002–2007: The Decay of French Economic Policy
Chapter 7. 2007–2013: From Optimism to the Great Recession
Chapter 8. The State of France: Four Decades after the First Oil Crisis
Conclusion
Index
About the author
Philippe Askenazy is Senior Researcher at the Paris School of Economics and Director of Research at the French National Center for Scientific Research. He is the author of La croissance moderne (2002) and Les désordres du travail (2004), among other books.
Richard Freeman holds the Herbert Ascherman Chair in Economics at Harvard University and directs the Science and Engineering Workforce Project at the National Bureau of Economic Research.
Summary
France is often described as one of the last Western economies unable to reform itself in the face of globalization. Yet its economy has not fallen by the wayside and has even resisted the great recession that began in 2008. By interlinking historical, economic, and political factors and by comparing France with other nations, this book explains the puzzle presented by the development of France. Understanding France's economy requires downplaying the usual policy injunctions—demands for less state control and less rigidity in the labor market—and instead stressing the importance of constructing a long-term industrial strategy.
