A few weeks ago, DovBear, noted blogger, and prime example of a well-meaning but under-educated left-winger asked me to explain how free markets benefit the poorest amongst us. The following is a brief response, but I will do my best to respond to comments or criticisms arise.
Exhibit A, as always, is the land of liberte, equalite, and fraternite, as well as increasingly frequent car burnings and riots. Currently, the government is attempting to make it easier to fire young folks, in the counter-intuitive but ultimately realizable belief that employers will be more willing to hire people if they can discard those that prove to be unproductive.
Anyhow, the first argument I would make is the 23% unemployment rate among young people in France (I think the definition is under 30, but cannot swear to that). That is, I think, a sign that employers are hesitant to engage people when the costs of disengagement are too high.
The second argument is the rioting itself. France has tried - in all sincerity, I'm sure - to create a socialist model such that one's welfare is reasonable even in the absence of employment. However, human nature is what it is, and while more people will opt for idleness when its costs are reduced, it's just not good for them - as a group, there tends to be this sort of devolution toward destructive nonsense.
So, yes, we all whine about our jobs, and I'd rather not have to spend the balance of today cutting and pasting and all that. But net net, the surfeit of regulations and impediments to the free market in France are, I think, a good example of how good intentions do not translate into good policy. For society as a whole (which includes the shopowners with newly smashed windows, as well as the smashers), as well as the individuals themselves.
And yes, there are cultural clashes in France that we don't have yet here in the U.S. I see that as more of an effect than a cause of a stagnant economy impaired by over-regulation.
- Moishe Potemkin
Posted by MoisheP at March 26, 2006 12:06 PM | TrackBack