In late March the top-selling book in France was Who Knows Madame Royal?, a vitriolic portrait of the Socialist party’s presidential candidate by Eric Besson, her former economic adviser, writes Delphine Strauss.
Bestsellers by economists are a rarity. But voters are hoping a change of president will deliver an improvement in economic performance.
It will not be easy. France failed to match the eurozone’s recovery last year. Growth of 2 per cent was below the region’s average. Its share of eurozone exports is falling. Debt is about 65 per cent of gross domestic product and France has one of the highest rates of unemployment in Europe.
Economists hoped this would be the year when French politicians would face up to the reality of globalisation, tackle pervasive public distrust of market forces, and promise the reforms needed to avoid longer-term decline.
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