Restructuring the French Economy

Restructuring the French Economy PDF Author: William James Adams
Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
ISBN: 9780815719762
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 426

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Book Description
At the end of World War II, experts on both sides of the Atlantic believed that France was doomed to economic stagnation. French culture and institutions, they argued, inhibited the changes in economic structure that sustained growth would require. But in spite of these predictions and the occasional volatility of the world economy, the French economy grew rapidly. Only the Japanese, of the major economies, has grown faster, and by 1975 the French standard of living matched that of West Germany. Restructuring the French Economy looks at the four decades of the structural changes that fostered growth and explores explanations of why such changes occurred. Drawing on many and diverse primary materials, including government statistics, judicial decisions, and professional memoirs, Adams examines three different explanations of France's postwar economic success. The first downplays the extent of structural change during the surge of growth. The second emphasizes the importance of government policies to compensate for inadequate private initiative. The third suggests that European economic integration and French decolonization created enough market competition to push the private sector into its own restructuring. Adams stresses that if government initiatives worked well, they did so in an environment of strong market competition; if competition seemed to work wonders, it occurred only as a result of government actions. He also devotes considerable attention to the implications of his findings for U.S. policy concerning European protectionism and the health and growth of American industries.

Restructuring the French Economy

Restructuring the French Economy PDF Author: William James Adams
Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
ISBN: 9780815719762
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 426

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Book Description
At the end of World War II, experts on both sides of the Atlantic believed that France was doomed to economic stagnation. French culture and institutions, they argued, inhibited the changes in economic structure that sustained growth would require. But in spite of these predictions and the occasional volatility of the world economy, the French economy grew rapidly. Only the Japanese, of the major economies, has grown faster, and by 1975 the French standard of living matched that of West Germany. Restructuring the French Economy looks at the four decades of the structural changes that fostered growth and explores explanations of why such changes occurred. Drawing on many and diverse primary materials, including government statistics, judicial decisions, and professional memoirs, Adams examines three different explanations of France's postwar economic success. The first downplays the extent of structural change during the surge of growth. The second emphasizes the importance of government policies to compensate for inadequate private initiative. The third suggests that European economic integration and French decolonization created enough market competition to push the private sector into its own restructuring. Adams stresses that if government initiatives worked well, they did so in an environment of strong market competition; if competition seemed to work wonders, it occurred only as a result of government actions. He also devotes considerable attention to the implications of his findings for U.S. policy concerning European protectionism and the health and growth of American industries.

Large Firms and Institutional Change

Large Firms and Institutional Change PDF Author: Bob Hancké
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 9780199252053
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 252

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Book Description
Analyses the revival of the French economy at the end of the 20th century and shows how large firms took the lead in that process, becoming the drivers of economic adjustment.

The French Challenge

The French Challenge PDF Author: Philip H. Gordon
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 0815798652
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 166

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Book Description
In August 1999 a forty-six-year-old sheep farmer name José Bové was arrested for dismantling the construction site of a new McDonald's restaurant in the south of France. A few months later Bové built on his fame by smuggling huge chunks of Roquefort cheese into Seattle, where he was among the leaders of the antiglobalization protests against the World Trade Organization summit. Bové's crusade against globalization helped provoke a debate both within France and beyond about the pros and cons of a world in which financial, commercial, human, cultural, and technology flows move faster and more extensively than ever before. As the French struggle to preserve the country's identity, heritage, and distinctiveness, they are nonetheless adapting to a new economy and an interdependent world. This book deals with France's effort to adapt to globalization and its consequences for France's economy, cultural identity, domestic politics, and foreign relations. The authors begin by analyzing the structural transformation of the French economy, driven first by liberalization within the European Union and more recently by globalization. By examining a wide variety of possible measures of globalization and liberalization, the authors conclude that the French economy's adaptation has been far reaching and largely successful, even if French leaders prefer to downplay the extent of these changes in response to political pressures and public opinion. They call this adaptation "globalization by stealth." The authors also examine the relationship between trade, culture, and identity and explain why globalization has rendered the three inseparable. They show how globalization is contributing to the restructuring of the traditional French political spectrum and blurring the traditional differences between left and right. Finally, they explore France's effort to tame globalization—maîtriser la mondialisation—and the possible consequences and lessons of the French s

France Encounters Globalization

France Encounters Globalization PDF Author: Peter Karl Kresl
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN: 9781782543800
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
'There is much of interest here, and the authors provide background information and digressions that make their analysis more accessible to noneconomists.' - M. Veseth, Choice This book is the first in English to comprehensively examine the French economy and how it is adjusting to the exigencies of an increasingly globalized environment. The opening of the French market to international competition has forced recent governments to realize that the old closed model in which France had considerable autonomy over policy is no longer valid. French solutions to domestic problems had to be given up in the early 1980s. Changes in technology have had dramatic impacts on the comparative advantage of French producers and the necessary restructuring has been far from easy. These twin aspects of globalization have also altered the situation of France's various regions and urban economies and the highly centralized structure has come under pressure. This has forced a change in the thinking of French public and private sector leaders. The role of the state, the degree of intervention, the extent of control over the domestic economy, and the need to be accommodating to market forces have all been subject to public debate and to fundamental reconsideration. While this is a book on the French economy, Kresl and Gallais deal with issues, challenges, and processes of change and adaptation that are facing all of Europe, and indeed all industrialized economies.

Revisiting the French Model

Revisiting the French Model PDF Author: Bob Hancké
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Corporate reorganizations
Languages : en
Pages : 58

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Book Description


The Politics of Economic Restructuring in India

The Politics of Economic Restructuring in India PDF Author: Loraine Kennedy
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317937988
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description
State re-scaling is the central concept mobilized in this book to interpret the political processes that are producing new economic spaces in India. In the quarter century since economic reforms were introduced, the Indian economy has experienced strong growth accompanied by extensive sectoral and spatial restructuring. This book argues that in this reformed institutional context, where both state spaces and economic geographies are being rescaled, subnational states play an increasingly critical role in coordinating socioeconomic activities. The core thesis that the book defends is that the reform process has profoundly reconfigured the Indian state’s rapport with its territory at all spatial scales, and these processes of state spatial rescaling are crucial for comprehending emerging patterns of economic governance and growth. It demonstrates that the outcomes of India’s new policy regime are not only the product of impersonal market forces, but that they are also the result of endogenous political strategies, acting in conjunction with the territorial reorganisation of economic activities at various scales, ranging from local to global. Extensive empirical case material, primarily from field-based research, is used to support these theoretical assertions. Scholars of political economy, political and economic geography, industrial development, development studies and Asian Studies will find this a stimulating and innovative contribution to the study of the political economy in the developing countries.

The French Economy

The French Economy PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : France
Languages : en
Pages : 29

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Book Description


The Left's Dirty Job

The Left's Dirty Job PDF Author: W. Rand Smith
Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press
ISBN: 0822971895
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 313

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Book Description
The Left's Dirty Job compares the experiences of recent socialist governments in France and Spain, examining how the governments of Francois Mitterrand (1981-1995) and Felipe Gonzalez (1982-1996) provide a key test of whether a leftist approach to industrial restructuring is possible. This study argues that, in fact, both governments's policies generally resembled those of other European governments in their emphasis on market-adapting measures that eliminated thousands of jobs while providing income support for displaced workers. Featuring extensive field work and interviews with over one hundred political, labor, and business leaders, this study is the first systematic comparison of these important socialist governments.

The Left's Dirty Job

The Left's Dirty Job PDF Author: W. Rand Smith
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
ISBN:
Category : Economic stabilization
Languages : en
Pages : 320

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Book Description
As today's headlines make clear, corporate "downsizing" is only one aspect of a global transformation challenging firms and governments alike. W. Rand Smith examines a central question in this process: what choices exist for governments of industrialized democracies as they seek to help older, core industries adjust to changes in demand, technology, and new sources of competition? This question is especially important for governments dominated by leftist political parties, which are torn between their commitment to social solidarity and the capitalist imperative of efficiency. The Left's Dirty Job compares recent socialist governments in France and Spain, which because of their longevity and initial reform aspirations, provide a key test of whether a distinctive leftist approach to industrial restructuring is possible. This study argues that, in fact, both governments' policies converged with those other European governments in "market-adapting" measures that eliminated thousands of jobs while providing income support for displaced workers. Despite broadly similar policies, however, the restructuring process differed in three important aspects: trajectory, dynamics, and impact. Smith traces this pattern of convergence and difference, and focuses on the internal politics of the governing coalitions of Socialist parties and labour union allies, arguing that these respective coalitions decisively affected their government's restructuring strategies. Featuring extensive field work and interviews with over one hundred political, labour, and business leaders, this is the first systematic comparison of these important Socialist governments.

The French Economy in the Twentieth Century

The French Economy in the Twentieth Century PDF Author: Jean-Pierre Dormois
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521667876
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 178

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