France: Is the criticism of globalisation valid?
One common criticism of globalisation in France is that “neo-liberal capitalism” has led to free trade and offshoring; the consequences have been dramatic, with deindustrialisation, the transformation of jobs into low-paid service jobs, a low employment rate, etc. This criticism is very superficial: It overlooks the real income gain provided by the opening up of trade with emerging countries; It attributes deindustrialisation to free trade, when free trade has not had this effect in other OECD countries; It overlooks all the structural drivers of deindustrialisation and job losses in France: low skills, insufficient corporate modernisation and innovation, high corporate tax burden; It conflates reshoring with the preservation (or development) of some strategic industries: medicines, electronics, etc.