What Ails France?

The yellow vests protest movement in France reflects the difficulties experienced by many advanced industrial democracies in the face of globalization, technology, and mass immigration. Brigitte Granville's book, "What Ails France?" applies an economist's vision to the monetary and fiscal pathologies flowing from this ideologically motivated technocratic rule, proposing treatments for French ailments to reinvigorate the republican value of liberté with a new local slant.

Format: Hardback
Publication date: 01 April 2021
Publisher: McGill-Queen's University Press

The yellow vests protest movement that began in France in 2018 has highlighted the concerns of many citizens about the state of their nation. Brigitte Granville sees this malaise as a unique symptom of the challenges faced by advanced industrial democracies in the era of globalization, technology, and mass immigration. In her comprehensive survey of the political economy of contemporary France, Granville offers a sharp critique of the self-reinforcing rigidity created by a narrow Parisian oligarchy that is both entitled and intellectually constrained.

What Ails France? applies an economist's lens to the monetary and fiscal pathologies stemming from this ideologically motivated technocratic rule, evident in Europe's flawed monetary union, runaway indebtedness, and chronic high structural unemployment. The author marshals academic research from various disciplines to fuel a provocative and sometimes contentious analysis, proposing various treatments for French ailments that would reinvigorate the republican value of liberté with a new local slant.

A refreshing, ideologically freewheeling discussion, What Ails France? provides a positive take on the innovations of our digital age, exploring their potential to bring about a more representative democracy and a fairer society.

Weight: 622g
Dimension: 163 x 241 x 28 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780228006800