French Socialism

[aneeshm]

Originally posted by Master Zen

Also note that France's productivity is among the highest in the world because of the extra 5 work hours cut from the week. Fact is that working hours decrease in marginal productivity which means the 8th hour was pretty much unproductive in France and everywhere else. Personally I think it was a brilliant move since most people's working day at full productivity can be done in 6-7 hours or even less. Of course the anti-French crowd will dis it as being lazy. Before the labor change, however, France was NOT among the 2-3 most productive countries in the world and if all the others also cut 5 hours a week from work you'd very much expect a productivity jump from them too.

Productivity per hour, or per capita?

And if people were really more productive by working one hour less, then wouldn't American and other companies have done that long ago, given the advantage it would give them?

[Imran Siddiqui]

You've misunderstood his point. They don't magically get more productive by working one hour less, but the productivity numbers look better by cutting out a relatively unproductive hour (there is still some productivity in that final hour, but it is much less than the average for the rest of the day).

[Caligastia]

Originally posted by Master Zen


There are many good brands which are actually quite commercial but don't seem to be exported much and are marketed mostly on a regional basis which means some are pretty hard to find even in many cities here. There's really not that many microbreweries here which is a shame.

I'm not a fan of Corona (clear bottles skunks beer) but Negro Modelo is ok.

[Master Zen]

Originally posted by aneeshm
@ Aggie

It doesn't matter if some people (the ones who would prefer not to work) in the rest of the world are jealous - in a global free-market economy, France will be outcompeted.

You'd be surprised how false that statement is.

In the global free-market economy of which France is a major player it has:

- The 3rd largest number of Fortune 500 companies in the world (only behind the US and Japan) and the most among EU states.

- The most highly technological and diversified industrial base in Europe. It is not dependent on a single city's financial services as the UK is to London.

In short, France is pretty well poised to compete in the global free-market economy, whatever you may think.

[Master Zen]

Originally posted by aneeshm
Productivity per hour, or per capita?

There's no difference. There's no such thing as productivity per hour since by definition, productivity is per hour (what else are you going to measure output against?).

[VetLegion]

Originally posted by Master Zen France would be wise in adopting the labor flexibility of, say, the US while the US would be equally wise in adopting some of France's welfare policies. I've said it many times and I'll say it again: dynamic labor policies and a welfare state are not mutually exclusive.

Of course, an elaborate welfare state can exist on top of a very competitive market. Denmark is perhaps the best example -- it has both generous social services and a flexible labour market.

A welfare state can exist when the number of people who use benefits is kept at a reasonable level.

Also note that France's productivity is among the highest in the world because of the extra 5 work hours cut from the week.

Correct.

[VetLegion]

Originally posted by aneeshm


Productivity per hour, or per capita?

And if people were really more productive by working one hour less, then wouldn't American and other companies have done that long ago, given the advantage it would give them?

Productivity = output / working hours spent to produce it.

As MZ explained, the French didn't produce anything in that last hour of the day so their total output didn't drop, but divided by fewer hours it becomes higher productivity.

In most professions all working hours are not equally productive, sou you can't increase output linearly with an increase of hours worked.

The reason Americans work so many hours (even more than the Japanese) is, I think, the extreme competitiveness within American companies. In USA you do long hours to ensure safety of your employement and to rise in status, not because you want to produce more stuff.

[Kidlicious]

There's this idea in the US that people should have to work a lot. The fact is that most Americans have a hard time staying busy at work. There's not enough work to do for all the hours we work.