Prof. Jacques Marseille, one of the few French intellectuals (he is an economic historian) sending the alarm about the current French situation, has an interesting article this week in the French magazine Le Point (thanks to François Guillaumat for the pointer). If you read French, it is available here.
Therein Jacques Marseille reflects on the similitude of Argentina and France. Very rich and well-managed 100 years ago, their public finances are now deep in the red and their citizens are much poorer (especially Argentina’s). The interesting parallel however is that of the rise of the dominant ideas, which over a period of 100 years, have led to similar mental models (what I call the “value transfer” mental model as opposed to the “value creation” one). Surely, this process has taken place in most Western countries. However, Argentina and France may have shared a more intimate path than others. I believe (from talking to Argentineans but I may be wrong on this) that French intellectuals of the left, such as Jean-Paul Sartre, have had a particular influence in Argentina. Peron (who many have described as a populist) and other Argentinean politicians paid a great deal of attention to the French left, and more so, perhaps, than to any other intellectual movement in Western Europe.
Beyond his Op-Eds for Le Point, Les Enjeux, and Le Figaro, Jacques Marseille, who holds the chair of economic history at the Sorbonne Paris I University, has published interesting and controversial works (check his website here). In his book, Empire Colonial et Capitalisme Français, he argues that colonization slowed down the development of France. Among other things, it explains why public opinion in 19th century Europe was not enthused by colonial expansion – in spite of government propaganda (e.g. the grandiose colonial exhibitions).
Jacques Marseille has recently published, La Guerre des Deux France, Celle qui Avance et Celle qui Freine, which analyzes the French situation of the last thirty years. The book was published as a response to the famous work by Jean Fourastié: Les Trentes Glorieuses. Marseille also republished in 2005 Le Grand Gaspillage, which is a very important and true account of French public finances, and the wastage of public spending.
Marseille is one of those French intellectuals who have done tremendous work showing over and over again the errors of socialism (one may also think of sovietologists such as Alain Besançon and Françoise Thom, and economists such as Henri Lepage and Pascal Salin). France (and Western Europe) needs many more intellectuals like them.
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