Are governments driven by a search for better solutions, or do they apply existing solutions to new problems?

Can a country be competitive and enjoy life?

At a Harvard talk last week French Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici was questioned aggressively by a Chinese official. The claim by the Chinese economist was that France can never become competitive because of its addiction to holidays and short working weeks. And as Moscovici tried to corner the questioner with the higher productivity of French workers, someone else took the relay baton for bashing French economic policy. Part of the audience reacted approvingly, as often happens in US public debates when France is being criticized. Continue reading →