The French Workweek

A new study argues that lowering the French work week to 35 hours created 350,000 jobs. Here's a link to a story.

I haven't read the study itself yet, but since the government commissioned it I'm not sure how many of its conclusions we should take at face value. Once I get a chance to read the report maybe I'll have more to say.

But here's my initial thought on analyses like this one: obviously they're useful for the French, who have a serious joblessness problem and deserve to know how effective their economic policy has been. Too often, however, studies like these get used as ammunition in debates about who has the "better" market system -- the more laissez-faire US or the continental European countries with larger governments.

I personally find these debates rather silly. There are differences between France and the United States, but most of these represent differences in culture. Market economies are not disembodied mechanisms that visit wealth or prosperity on nations. They are embedded in the legal and cultural frameworks of each nation, and thus reflective (more or less) of the preferences of the majority in those countries. The French have lower levels of consumer spending, higher levels of government spending, and more vacations because for the most part that's what they value. The US has much higher consumption per head, much lower government spending on public goods, much less personal savings and generally more hours worked.

Which one is "better"? You could make a case for either one. Although it sounds like a cop-out, I'd prefer something in the middle. More importantly, though, the cultural differences between the market economies of rich nations are trivial compared to the economic differences between rich nations and poor. The US and France are both very wealthy countries, and the more pressing question isn't whether the US should look more France, but how to get countries in the global South to look more like either of them. Comparing the US and France is like comparing a Ford and a Volkswagen; comparing the US and Africa is like comparing a Ford and a bicycle. And--if you'll all permit me an awful Tom Friedmanesque metaphor--when you're stuck on a bike you don't care what kind of car you have. You just want a car.

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