France: Reforms and macroeconomics
Since 2017, France has implemented a number of reforms (labour market , training, education , taxes, healthcare , etc.). But when we look at va rious developments , we see that France’s macroeconomic situation (size of industry and industrial foreign trade , market shares , productivity , cost competitiveness , employment growth , etc.) continues to deteriorate . What accounts for this contrast between reforms and macroeconomic performance? Obviously, the fact that the reforms show their positive effects only after several years; But, which would be more worrying, perhaps also the fact that the macroeconomic mechanisms that negatively affect France’s situation (high production costs given the level of product sophistication, business-unfriendly tax system, etc.) are powerful and resilient to reforms.