OECD Economic Surveys : France, 1997.

182 Pages·0.841 MB·English

by  OECD

D OECD
ECONOMIC
SURVEYS
C
E
FRANCE
O
1997
OECD
ECONOMIC
SURVEYS
1996-1997
FRANCE
ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT
(cid:211) OECD, 1996.
(cid:211) Software: 1987-1996, Acrobat is a trademark of ADOBE.
All rights reserved. OECD grants you the right to use one copy of this Program for your personal use only. Unauthorised
reproduction, lending, hiring, transmission or distribution of any data or software is prohibited. You must treat the Program and
associated materials and any elements thereof like any other copyrighted material.
All requests should be made to: Head of Publications Service, OECD Publications Service, 2, rue Andre´-Pascal, 75775 Paris
Cedex 16, France.
ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION
AND DEVELOPMENT
Pursuant to Article 1 of the Convention signed in Paris on 14th December 1960,
and which came into force on 30th September 1961, the Organisation for Economic
Co-operation and Development (OECD) shall promote policies designed:
– to achieve the highest sustainable economic growth and employment and a rising
standard of living in Member countries, while maintaining financial stability, and
thus to contribute to the development of the world economy;
– to contribute to sound economic expansion in Member as well as non-member
countries in the process of economic development; and
– to contribute to the expansion of world trade on a multilateral, non-discriminatory
basis in accordance with international obligations.
The original Member countries of the OECD are Austria, Belgium, Canada,
Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the
Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the
United Kingdom and the United States. The following countries became Members subse-
quently through accession at the dates indicated hereafter: Japan (28th April 1964),
Finland (28th January 1969), Australia (7th June 1971), New Zealand (29th May 1973),
Mexico (18th May 1994), the Czech Republic (21st December 1995), Hungary
(7th May 1996), Poland (22nd November 1996) and the Republic of Korea
(12th December 1996). The Commission of the European Communities takes part in the
work of the OECD (Article 13 of the OECD Convention).
Publie´ e´galement en franc¸ais.
(cid:211) OECD 1997
Applications for permission to reproduce or translate all or part of this
publication should be made to:
Head of Publications Service, OECD
2, rue Andre´-Pascal, 75775 PARIS CEDEX 16, France.
Table of contents
Assessment and recommendations 1
I. Recent trends and prospects 18
Significant slowdown in growth 18
Employment growth has stalled 23
Inflation remains moderate 25
A strong external balance 25
Medium-term growth also slowed 28
Short-term economic prospects 29
II. Macroeconomic policies 32
Monetary policy 32
Fiscal policy 45
III. Implementing the OECD Jobs Strategy 61
Introduction 61
Labour market and employment performance 64
Policy requirements 68
Recent policy actions 101
Assessment and scope for further action 102
IV. Corporate governance of French enterprises 109
Introduction 109
Corporate governance and control structure 111
Corporate governance and economic performance 122
Reforms and reform proposals 128
iii
Notes 132
Bibliography 138
Annexes
I. Supplementary information for Chapter III 141
II. Estimates of the structural rate of unemployment 145
III. Calendar of main economic events 148
Statistical annex and structural indicators 155
Boxes
1. The OECD Jobs Study Strategy: Synopsis of recommendations 69
2. Corporate governance 110
3. A synopsis of the French corporate governance system 114
Tables
Text
1. Household appropriation account 20
2. Employment and inflation developments 24
3. Balance of payments 26
4. Short-term projections 30
5. Real interest rates in international comparison 38
6. State budgets and outturns 45
7. Financial balances by level of government 47
8. Marginal tax rates and income brackets for direct household
income taxes 50
9. Pay fixing in the public sector: an international comparison 58
10. Unemployment characteristics 65
11. Real minimum wage and median salary developments 73
iv
12. Replacement rates 81
13. Labour market programmes 87
14. Labour cost for low income earners 90
15. Population aged 25 to 64 years old by level of education 91
16. Young people leaving the education system 92
17. The price level in international comparison 96
18. Research and development outlays 100
19. Ownership of common stock in selected OECD countries 111
20. Ownership concentration in non-financial enterprises 113
21. European merger and acquisition activity by target country 118
22. Privatisations in 1993-96 120
23. Financial structure of industrial companies 123
24. Performance of major French enterprises 127
25. Venture capital in France 128
26. A comparison of the Cadbury and Vie´not Committees’ conclusions 130
Annexes
A1. Labour force and employment developments 141
A2. Procedures for lay-offs for economic reasons 142
A3. Contribution to training in enterprises 144
A4. Correlation among labour market variables 146
Statistical annex and structural indicators
A. Selected background statistics 156
B. Gross domestic product and expenditure 157
C. The money supply and its counterparts 158
D. Balance of payments on a transactions basis 159
E. Foreign trade by commodity 160
F. Foreign trade by origin 161
G. Structure of output and performance indicators 162
H. Labour market indicators 165
I. Financial markets 166
J. Public sector 167
v
Figures
Text
1. Contributions to GDP growth 19
2. Car registrations and disposable income 21
3. Business investment and its determinants 22
4. Measures of international competitiveness 27
5. Interest rate developments 33
6. Exchange rates and interest rate differentials 34
7. Monetary conditions and the Taylor rule 36
8. Money and credit 40
9. Indicators of fiscal stance 53
10. Primary government expenditure: an international comparison 55
11. Labour market indicators 62
12. Labour force and employment developments 63
13. Average and marginal tax wedges 72
14. Real wages, productivity and labour shares 74
15. Real wages adjusted for compositional changes 75
16. Wage dispersion and the minimum wage 76
17. Estimate of the structural unemployment rate 104
18. The heart of the cross-participation system 121
19. Own funds ratio 124
vi
BASIC STATISTICS OF FRANCE
THE LAND
Area (1 000 km2), 1994 549.1 Major cities (thousand inhabitants), 1990:
Agricultural area (1 000 km2), 1994 301.2 Paris 2 152
Marseille 801
Lyon 415
THE PEOPLE (1995)
Population, 1st January (thousands) 58 020 Total labour force (thousands) 25 371
Number of inhabitants per km2 106
Total increase in population (thousands) 245
PRODUCTION (1995)
Gross domestic product at market Origin of the gross domestic product,
prices (billion FF) 7 681.0 at market prices (per cent):
Gross domestic product per head (US$) 26 526 Agriculture 2.6
Gross fixed investment: Industry 23.8
Per cent of GDP 17.9 Construction 4.8
Per head (US$) 4 754 Services 68.8
Total 100.0
GENERAL GOVERNMENT (1995)
ESNA concept, as a per cent of GDP:
Current expenditure 50.5
Current revenue 48.8
Current fixed investment 3.1
FOREIGN TRADE (1994)
Exports of goods and services (% of GDP) 22.8 Imports of goods and services (% of GDP) 20.6
Main exports as a percentage of total Main imports as a percentage of total
exports (SITC): imports (SITC):
Food, beverages and tobacco (0 + 1) 14.4 Food, beverages and tobacco (0 + 1) 10.6
Machinery and transport equipment (7) 39.5 Machinery and transport equipment (7) 35.4
Iron and steel products (67 + 68) 5.2 Iron and steel products (67 + 68) 5.2
Chemical products (5) 14.5 Chemical products (5) 12.0
Textiles (65) 2.7 Mineral fuels, lubricants and related
materials (3) 7.7
THE CURRENCY
Monetary unit: the franc Currency units per US$, average of daily
figures:
Year 1995 4.99
November 1996 5.12
Note: An international comparison of certain basic statistics is given in an Annex table.
This Survey is based on the Secretariat’s study
prepared for the annual review of France by the
Economic and Development Review Committee
on 18th November 1996.
•
After revisions in the light of discussions during the
review, final approval of the Survey for publication was
given by the Committee on 13th December 1996.
•
The previous Survey of of France was issued in
September 1995.