Not at all the same economic policy objectives in France and Germany

When considering what needs to be changed in the economic policies of France and Germany, we see major differences between the needs and the legitimate objectives of economic policy in these two countries. France has a savings shortfall, Germany has a very large savings surplus; a more expansionary fiscal policy can therefore be envisaged in Germany on a lasting basis, but not in France; in France, it would be possible to transform current public spending into efficient public investment or corporate investment; France and Germany have high labour costs, but this has not been a disadvantage for the competitiveness of German industry, while that of French industry is poor. So France has to improve the sophistication of its production if it wants to avoid having to cut wages, which is not a relevant issue for Germany, which has already chosen a high level of product sophistication to make high wages possible; Public spending is much more efficient in Germany than in France, as shown by the adjustment of the pension system to ageing, the efficiency of the healthcare and education systems , and general government productivity. A priority in France, and no longer in Germany, is therefore to improve the efficiency of public spending. On the whole, Germany should instead pursue policies to stimulate demand (public and private), France to stimulate supply (transformation of public current spending into investment ), and improve the competitiveness and efficiency of the state.