France Encounters Globalization

France Encounters Globalization

Peter Karl Kresl , Sylvain Gallais

Peter Karl Kresl,Charles P. Vaughan Professor of Economics (Emiritus), Bucknell University, US and President, Global Urban Competitiveness Project and Sylvain Gallais, former Professor of Economics, University Institute of Technology, UniversitéFrançois-Rabelais, France.

2002 296 pp Hardback 978 1 84064 542 2

ebook isbn 978 178254 380 0

Description
‘There is much of interest here, and the authorsprovide background information and digressions that make their analysis moreaccessible to noneconomists.’
– M. Veseth, Choice

This book is the first in English tocomprehensively examine the French economy and how it is adjusting to theexigencies of an increasingly globalized environment.

The opening of the French market to internationalcompetition has forced recent governments to realize that the old closed modelin which France had considerable autonomy over policy is no longer valid.French solutions to domestic problems had to be given up in the early 1980s.Changes in technology have had dramatic impacts on the comparative advantage ofFrench producers and the necessary restructuring has been far from easy. Thesetwin aspects of globalization have also altered the situation of France’svarious regions and urban economies and the highly centralized structure hascome under pressure. This has forced a change in the thinking of French publicand private sector leaders. The role of the state, the degree of intervention,the extent of control over the domestic economy, and the need to beaccommodating to market forces have all been subject to public debate and tofundamental reconsideration. While this is a book on the French economy, Kresland Gallais deal with issues, challenges, and processes of change andadaptation that are facing all of Europe, and indeed all industrializedeconomies.

Economists, political scientists, businessscholars and anyone interested in globalization will find this comprehensivestudy engaging and topical.

Contents: Preface 1. France Encounters Globalization2. The French Economy since the Second World War 3. The Role of the State inthe French Economy 4. France’s External Economic Relations 5. Employment, andIncomes 6. Economic Structure, Restructuring and Development of Output 7.Decentralization: Regions and Cities 8. Prospects for the French EconomyReferences Index