Documents Goujard, Antoine 5 results

"Over the past decade, France has substantially eased the burden of anti-competitive regulations and effectively enforced competition law against anti-competitive practices. Various sectors have been opened up more widely to competition, and the powers of the Competition Authority have been strengthened. However, the administrative procedures involved in starting a business remain lengthy, and the number of regulations and rules is substantial, while their potential impact on competition is not fully taken into account when they are drawn up and implemented. Recent streamlining initiatives are welcome but remain limited. Meanwhile, the territorial fragmentation of public procurement procedures, which could decline following ongoing reforms, impairs their efficiency and entry and operating requirements appear to go beyond consumer protection in several regulated professions, such as in legal services and health care. In the retail sector, recent reforms have significantly relaxed negotiating conditions between suppliers and retailers, and Sunday trading is intended to be partly liberalised. However, the ban on resale below cost has not been challenged, nor the tight rules controlling commercial zoning. Individual shops that contract with superstore chains cannot change chain easily. Of the network industries, it is in the telecommunications sector that competition has made the most progress, and there is room for further improvements in transport and energy. This Working Paper relates to the 2015 OECD Economic Survey of France."

"Despite sustained efforts made in recent years to rein in budget deficits, a majority of OECD countries still face substantial public finance consolidation needs moving forward, owing to the legacy of debt accumulation before the crisis, and to the role played by fiscal policy in rescuing the banking system and supporting aggregate demand in the aftermath of the recession. Further budget consolidation is also needed over a much longer horizon to face long-term public spending pressures, in particular from pensions and health care.
Fiscal consolidation complicates the task of achieving other policy goals. In most cases, it weighs on demand in the short term. And, if too little attention is paid to the mix of instruments used to achieve consolidation, it can slow the process of global rebalancing, undermine long-term growth and exacerbate income inequality. It is therefore important for governments to adopt consolidation strategies that minimise these adverse side-effects. The analysis assesses the near and long-term consolidation needs for OECD countries and proposes consolidation strategies that take into account other policy goals as well as country-specific circumstances and preferences. To do so, increases in particular taxes and cuts in specific spending areas are assessed for their effects on short- and longterm growth, income distribution and external accounts. The results of detailed simulations indicate that a significant number of OECD countries may have to raise harmful taxes or cut valuable spending areas to deliver sufficient consolidation, underscoring the need for structural reforms to counteract these side-effects."

"This paper examines how structural policies can influence a country's risk of suffering financial turmoil. Using a panel of 184 developed and emerging economies from 1970 to 2009, the empirical analysis examines which structural policies can affect financial stability by either shaping the financial account structure, by reducing the risk of international financial contagion, or by directly reducing the risk of financial crises. Differentiated capital controls are found to affect financial stability via the structure of the financial account. Moreover, a number of structural policies including regulatory burdens on foreign direct investment, strict product market regulation, or tax systems which favour debt over equity finance are found to bias external financing towards debt, thereby increasing financial crisis risk. By contrast, more stringent domestic capital adequacy requirements for banks, greater reliance of a domestic banking system on deposits, controls on credit market inflows, and openness to foreign bank entry are found to reduce the vulnerability to financial contagion. Finally, vulnerability to international bank balance-sheet shocks is found to be lower in situations of abundant global liquidity, underlining the importance of adequate central bank reactions in situations of financial turmoil."

"The OECD actively supports countries with the implementation of the OECD Jobs Strategy through the preparation of labour market chapters in the OECD Economic Surveys. This paper provides an overview of the analytical work carried out in the context of the 2019 Economic Survey for France. The paper consists of a preliminary assessment of the French labour market reforms since 2017 related to the tax and benefit system, employment protection, and collective bargaining. These reforms are broadly in line with the recommendations of the OECD Jobs Strategy. They are likely to contribute to enhanced employment and living standards of low-skilled workers and reduce labour market duality. However, a close monitoring will be necessary to assess whether their implementation has the desired effects and additional measures are needed."

"Le vaste mouvement de mécontentement qui s'est manifesté en France au travers des manifestations des « gilets jaunes », initiées il y a un an maintenant, témoigne d'un fort sentiment d'abandon d'une partie de la société française. Si les situations des manifestants sont très diverses et leurs revendications parfois disparates, ce sentiment d'être acculé, de se trouver dans une sorte d'impasse socio-économique, est-il étayé par les observations statistiques ? À lire cet article de Laurence Boone et Antoine Goujard, il semble en effet que la France occupe une position particulière dans le monde développé, ne parvenant plus à faire fonctionner l'ascenseur social correctement ni à offrir une égalité des chances suffisante à chacun.

S'appuyant sur des comparaisons internationales, cet article souligne la faible mobilité sociale au fil des générations et une inégalité des chances qui, en France, est perpétuée par le système éducatif et de formation. Autrement dit, ni l'École, ni le parcours dans l'emploi (quand on a la chance d'être actif) ne permettent aux personnes situées en bas de l'échelle sociale d'y progresser ; et si la redistribution et les transferts sociaux tempèrent un peu l'analyse, ils ne suffisent pas à rétablir une égalité des chances. Comme l'indiquent les auteurs dans leurs recommandations finales, seules des mesures substantielles de réforme dans le domaine de l'éducation tout au long de la vie seraient à même de changer la donne."