Books & ideas

Neoliberalism à la française

Matthew Soener — 2020-02-03T08:00:00Z

From Mitterrand's “rigueur” to Hollande's “mandate,” Bruno Amable charts the transformation of French capitalism and reveals the making of a political crisis.

A European Unemployment Insurance Scheme?

Thomas Vendryes — 2017-11-13T08:00:00Z

First evoked in the 1970s, the idea of a European unemployment benefit scheme has recently become a topics of debate among academics and policy-makers, as it could constitute a way to deal with the macroeconomic imbalances within the EU and the Eurozone. In this interview, Sebastian Dullien presents how such a scheme could work, its potential economic consequences - and whether it would be politically realistic.

In the Hell of Street-Level Bureaucracy

Nicolas Duvoux — 2016-12-01T08:00:00Z

Ken Loach's latest film, which won the Palme d'Or prize at the Cannes Film Festival, charts the struggles of a carpenter trying to get state welfare after suffering a heart attack. I, Daniel Blake offers an accurate depiction of the dehumanisation suffered by the most destitute in a United Kingdom undermined by de-industrialisation and inequality.

The Age of Youth

Thomas Grillot — 2012-07-10T15:31:30Z

Youth has all the trappings of the universal, eternal value—one that is especially mobilized when there is a need for change. Looking at its history is delving into the construction of a category, and the ubiquituous use and abuse of the people it covers. Historian Ludivine Bantigny sheds light for us on this very political notion.

Getting Employment Going Again

Ivan Jablonka — 2012-02-10T08:54:57Z

If we want to adjust to the world the crisis has thrust us in, we will have to stop blaming unemployment on the “French Model.” For economist Philippe Askenazy, we need to shift from a vision of unemployment in terms of job losses, job flows, and business incentives, to the question: “Where does one need jobs in a modern society like France?”

Economics: a Cure for Pessimism

Emmanuel Bétry — 2011-12-22T10:39:51Z

In a book devoted to economic anxieties in France, two economists well known in the blogosphere try to make their field accessible while conveying its complexity.