France: Planning in the Market Economy I. The Environment
B.
Deep Historic Class Divisions - Bred chronic
political instability and invited authoritarian central
government. Even though France now has one of the highest
levels of expenditures on income redistribution in the world
(see at end of this outline), it also has one of the lowest
level of social mobility. It takes 6 generations for a person
born into the lowest 10% to reach median income. Rooted in
social discrimination and disparities in access to the better
schools, housing, and jobs. . See
more here
|
Social Expenditures as Percent of GDP, 1980-2018 |
|||||
|
1980 |
1990 |
2000 |
2010 |
2018 |
France |
20.1 |
24.3 |
27.6 |
31.0 |
31.2 |
Belgium |
23.1 |
24.4 |
23.5 |
28.3 |
28.9 |
Finland |
17.7 |
23.3 |
22.6 |
27.3 |
28.7 |
Denmark |
20.3 |
21.9 |
23.8 |
28.6 |
28.0 |
Italy |
17.4 |
20.7 |
22.7 |
27.1 |
27.9 |
Austria |
21.9 |
23.1 |
25.7 |
27.6 |
26.6 |
Sweden |
24.8 |
27.2 |
26.8 |
26.3 |
26.1 |
Germany |
21.8 |
21.4 |
25.4 |
25.9 |
25.1 |
Norway |
16.1 |
21.6 |
20.4 |
22.0 |
25.0 |
Spain |
15.0 |
19.2 |
19.5 |
24.7 |
23.7 |
Greece |
9.9 |
15.7 |
17.8 |
24.9 |
23.5 |
Portugal |
9.5 |
12.2 |
18.5 |
24.5 |
22.6 |
Japan |
10.0 |
10.9 |
15.4 |
21.3 |
21.9 |
Slovenia |
.. |
.. |
22.0 |
23.4 |
21.2 |
Poland |
.. |
14.2 |
20.2 |
20.6 |
21.1 |
UK |
15.6 |
14.9 |
16.2 |
22.4 |
20.6 |
Hungary |
.. |
.. |
20.1 |
23.0 |
19.4 |
New Zealand |
16.2 |
20.3 |
18.2 |
20.4 |
18.9 |
Czech Rep. |
.. |
14.1 |
17.9 |
19.7 |
18.7 |
United States |
12.8 |
13.2 |
14.3 |
19.4 |
18.7 |
Estonia |
.. |
.. |
13.8 |
18.3 |
18.4 |
Australia |
10.3 |
13.1 |
18.3 |
16.6 |
17.8 |
Canada |
13.3 |
17.5 |
15.8 |
17.5 |
17.3 |
Slovak Rep. |
.. |
.. |
17.6 |
18.0 |
17.0 |
Netherlands |
23.3 |
24.0 |
18.8 |
17.8 |
16.7 |
Latvia |
.. |
.. |
15.4 |
19.5 |
16.2 |
Lithuania |
.. |
.. |
15.4 |
19.4 |
16.2 |
Switzerland |
12.7 |
12.1 |
13.9 |
15.1 |
16.0 |
Iceland |
.. |
13.5 |
14.6 |
16.9 |
16.0 |
Israel |
.. |
.. |
16.2 |
15.4 |
16.0 |
Ireland |
15.7 |
16.8 |
13.2 |
24.6 |
14.4 |
Turkey |
2.2 |
3.8 |
7.5 |
12.3 |
12.5 |
Korea |
.. |
2.7 |
4.5 |
8.2 |
11.1 |
Chile |
.. |
9.8 |
10.4 |
10.4 |
10.9 |
Mexico |
.. |
3.1 |
4.4 |
7.4 |
7.5 |
Since
he took office in 2017, French President Emmanuel Macron has
carried out or proposed several controversial reforms to get
the budget under control. He replaced an overall wealth tax
with a tax on real estate. He raised gasoline taxes by about
30 cents per gallon - on top of prices already above $7 per
gallon. That led to sustained protests in the "yellow vest"
movement, which broadened to other working-class grievances.
In December 2019, he announced a plan to reform the old-age
pension program, which consumes 14% of national income. The
less controversial part was to simplify the system, which had
42 different profession-specific plans. The more controversial
part involved spending cuts, aimed at penalizing early
retirement and encouraging later retirement. French workers can
retire with benefits at 62 - one of the youngest ages in the
world - and Macron wants to raise that to 65. For the
French, who place a high value on leisure, this is a tough
sell. Macron tried to impose the reform by decree in 2019, but
then Covid forced him to put the reform on hold. Now
he says he will make the change if he is re-elected.