Oséo plays a pivotal role in public policy regarding credit and credit guarantees. With €569 million in aid for innovation in 2011, Oséo is also a major provider of support for innovation. Thanks to its broad scope for action, it is able to support companies throughout their development. For example, Oséo can offer companies aid for innovation programmes in order to develop a new product or for sc... Lire la suite
Since the inception of the financial crisis, the price of gold has evolved as a safe haven, i.e., an asset whose return is uncorrelated or negatively correlated with the return on another asset in periods of financial market tensions: the performance of gold, the price of which has risen from $650 per ounce ($650/oz) in June 2007 to close to $1650/oz in April 2012, thus contrasts with the performa... Lire la suite
A year ago, Japan's triple disaster-earthquake, tsunami and nuclear accident-had a very strong impact on the Japanese economy. In addition to its dramatic human cost, the catastrophe destroyed production capacity in the disaster zones and caused a power supply shortfall. It also negatively impacted the national and international economy through disruption of production chains-the factor that ultim... Lire la suite
Under French welfare and tax legislation, real disposable household income for workers on the "Smic" minimum-wage rose faster than the real minimum-wage, for a given family configuration and number of hours worked, between 1999 and 2011, with disposable income rising by over 10% against a 5% rise in the minimum-wage. Various mechanisms introduced to support low-earners' incomes have played a decis... Lire la suite
The revealed comparative advantage (RCA) indicator estimated by CEPII (Centre d'Études Prospectives et d'Informations Internationales, a Paris-based economics institute) underscores the similar specializations of the five main European Union (EU) exporters (France, Germany, Italy, United Kingdom, and Spain). All five countries studied specialize in mechanical products and/or vehicles and-apart fro... Lire la suite
Reduced rate employers' social security contributions for low-wage workers, first introduced in 1993 and progressively extended since then, are a key component of employment policy in France. Their gross cost to public finances amounted €22.2 billion in 2009 (not including revenues from their positive impact on employment and the resulting lower spending on unemployment benefits). This paper summa... Lire la suite
The world economy is still convalescent. The 2008-2009 crisis grew out of deep imbalances in the advanced economies, and in particular out of excessive levels of household, corporate and/or government debt. Stimulus plans have mitigated the consequences of this crisis, but at the cost of rising public debt, even though the process of private debt reduction has barely begun. It will take time to cl... Lire la suite
By encouraging economies to specialize in sectors where they enjoy a comparative advantage, globalization has helped restrain price rises for many goods. In most of the OECD countries this effect has been relatively modest on the overall consumer price index (some 0 to ¼ of a percentage point annually since 2000) but it has proved to be far greater for goods widely traded in the international mark... Lire la suite
Unemployment is high among people with doctorates in France, both in relation to other graduate categories and by comparison with PhDs in other countries. The rate varies widely from one subject area to another, however. The unemployment rate for people with university doctorates in mechanical, electronic, computer engineering and engineering sciences is low, being close to that for engineering sc... Lire la suite
The current globalization, which began in the 1970s, is not unprecedented: between 1870 and 1914, the opening of national economies went hand in hand with a rapid expansion of trade and investment beyond national borders. The period also saw financial crises comparable to those of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.As for goods markets, the first globalization was characterized by... Lire la suite