Abstract
France, for a century, thought of herself as a great industrial nation. This country not only saw a source of prosperity and quality jobs for its citizens but also always considered technological autonomy and industrial power as an attribute of sovereignty. For the classical economist, deindustrialization is a fact of development: the more economies grow and become more sophisticated, the more they produce and consume services, and the more industrial activities migrate to emerging countries. However, in France, the attachment to industry and to an active industrial policy remained strong even as the country gradually embarked on European construction and had to respond to globalization and new technological waves. France has long successfully pursued an industrial policy of major projects. European integration, the ever closer union, the development of regulatory authorities for competition, and state aids led France to dismantle its public intervention apparatus. The introduction of the euro further deprived France of its devaluation power to correct relative competitiveness losses. Thus, France is a pure case of a voluntarist country subjected to the test of globalization intermediated by the European Union whose long-term effects on deindustrialization can be judged.
Notes
In 2008, according to UNCTAD, for the 15 largest French multinationals, over 60% of their assets and 60% of employment were located outside France. The same year, for the 13 large German multinationals, 46% of total assets were located abroad, 14 points lower than the French multinational.
References
Aghion P (2018) Un an de Macron, le compte n’y est pas. Alternatives Economiques. June
Artus P (2013) France: what should we expect from the tax credit for competitiveness and employment? Natixis, October
Buigues P-A. & Sekkat K. (2011). Public subsidies to business: an international comparison. Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, 2011, vol. 11, issue 1, 1–24
Buigues P-A. & Sekkat K. (2009) Industrial policy in Europe, Japan and the USA. Palgrave Macmillan
Cohen E (2007) Industrial policies in France: the old and the new. Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, 2007 7(3):213–227
Cohen E & Buigues P-A (2015)., Le décrochage industriel, Fayard, 2015
CEPII (2019). L’étonnante atonie des exportations françaises. La lettre du CEPII, N°395, Janvier 2019
Cour des Comptes (2013) L’évolution et les conditions de maîtrise du crédit d’impôt en faveur de la recherche July 2013
Eurostat, (2013) High-technology versus low-technology manufacturing
Eurostat, (2011) High-tech statistics
France Stratégie (2018) Rapport 2018: Crédit d’Impôt pour la compétitivité et l’emploi
France Stratégie (2017). Evaluation de la politique des pôles de compétitivité Février
Gallois L. (2012) Pacte pour la compétitivité de l’industrie française, La Documentation française Novembre
Gouvernement (2014). La Nouvelle France Industrielle: 34 plans de la nouvelle France Industrielle Septembre
Institut de l’Entreprise (2012).Pôles de compétitivité: Transformer l’essai Policy Paper, Novembre 2012
McKinsey Global Institute (2012) Manufacturing the future: the next area of global growth and innovation, November
Mittelstaedt JD, Harben G, Ward W (2003) How big is big enough? Firm Size as a Barrier to Exporting Journal of Small Business Management 41(1):67–83
Pisani-Ferry J. (2018). La méthode Macron doit changer. Journal du Dimanche, 1 Septembre
Porter M (1998) Clusters and the new economics of competition Harvard
Rodrik D (2016) Premature deindustrialization. Journal of Economic Growth, 33 21(1):1
Sénat (2019) Pôles de compétitivité: Bilan et Perspective Février
UNCTAD (2018). World investment report
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Buigues, PA., Cohen, E. The Failure of French Industrial Policy. J Ind Compet Trade 20, 249–277 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10842-019-00325-0
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10842-019-00325-0