Is France’s problem that it can no longer devalue?
One argument commonly used to explain France’s deindustrialisation is that France can no longer devalue its currency to restore its cost competitiveness when its production costs (wages, taxes, etc.) are too high. But is this the right explanation? Industry also faces a major problem of skills and hiring skilled workers, which is correlated to the problem of weak corporate modernisation. If France could devalue, it would increase the competitiveness of the unsophisticated part of its industry, whose cost competitiveness would improve and which does not have too many hiring problems. But it would not improve the situation of the more sophisticated part of industry, which would still be unable to hire and produce more.