Jacques Chirac used the Bastille Day holiday to insist that France is better off than the UK:

President Jacques Chirac celebrated Bastille Day yesterday by insisting that France had no need to “envy or copy” Britain. Whether the point of comparison was food, health, education or science, France was in far better shape than its old rival, he said.

Chirac, on the losing end of many battles lately (see: EU constitution, Paris Olympics, etc.) is wrong on big picture here as well. He may be able to pick and win on some specific metrics, but the fact is, France has been performing worse than Britain for a quarter century. And the French people may have had enough.

First, the facts: a check of the International Monetary Fund’s World Economic Outlook Database, April 2005 table of Per Capita Gross Domestic Product, Constant Prices confirms that it’s the UK that is pulling ahead. In 1980, France’s per-capita GDP was 33% higher than the UK’s — US$12,700 compared to $9,527. But by 2004 the roles were reversed: France only had 92% of the UK’s per-capita GDP: $32,662 versus $35,459, respectively. These were not single-year anomalies: the UK passed France in 1998 and has pulled ahead since.

This matters because per-capita GDP is the best way to measure a nation’s wealth at the scale of individual citizens.

For you econ majors, the same holds true if you use “purchasing power parity” instead of a straight local currency-to-dollar conversion … France has slipped from 116% of the UK’s figure to 97%.

Chirac’s pick-and-choose comparisons also fly in the face of twenty years of 8%+ unemployment (it’s currently 10.2%).

The French may have had enough; indeed, there is even hope:

… (Chirac’s) remarks were in stark contrast to recent comments by his popular interior minister and bitter rival, Nicolas Sarkozy, who extolled the “Anglo-Saxon model” Mr Chirac so reviles.

Mr Sarkozy even dared to ask out loud whether it was “France that is wrong and the world that is right”.

And tonight (Saturday morning in Europe) we find this:

Would-be French president Nicolas Sarkozy has delivered his most scathing public insult to President Jacques Chirac, comparing him to the dithering, ill-fated Louis XVI.

In an astonishing outburst by a serving minister against his head of state, Mr Sarkozy announced: “I’m not going to quietly mend locks at Versailles while a revolt is brewing in France.”

The remark was seen as an allusion to President Chirac and the French monarch who was overthrown and executed during the French Revolution.

“For 20 years as a result of immobility, waffle, avoiding reality and ducking challenges, France is in revolt,” the interior minister said. “I’m trying to listen.”

He added: “I’m ready to give a lot. The French are demanding action, they are demanding that we throw out old ideas.”

His remarks could not have been more indiscreetly delivered.

Regrettably, Sarkozy can not become President until 2007. Chirac, 72, has not ruled out running in that election as well, which would be an epic confrontation.

One gets the sense that Chirac’s disingenuous “at least we’re better off than the Brits” isn’t fooling anyone any more. Let’s hope his denial of reality becomes a weapon for those who will chase him out of office.

Technorati Tags: France, economics

This entry was posted on Friday, July 15th, 2005 at 10:30 pm by A Senior Administration Official and is filed under I knew I'd use my Econ major, France, We Taunt You. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.