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INSEE has just published its first estimate of the growth figures of the French economy in the 1st quarter of 2026, i.e. 0%. Comments about this stagnation do not seem to have understood the nature of the problem. Just because we went from +0.2% in the 4th quarter of 2025 to 0% does not mean that there is a new fact. The imprecision of the numbers after the decimal point should be taken into account. Secondly, a comparison is made between the crisis in the Middle East and the results of the 1st quarter. In reality, this very ...
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The publication of the IFO business index in Germany for February, which is significantly lower than expected (84.4, the lowest level since the low point of the COVID period) after 86.3 in January, reflects the current difficulties of the German economy. But the essential question is whether these are the consequences of the current international instability and will therefore fade away in the future or a structural change affecting a country whose economic model has long been the benchmark in Europe.
Paul Valéry, in his study published in 1898 (A Methodical Conquest) described it as follows: "To ...
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In an increasingly fragmented and unstable international environment, China appears to be a pillar of growth in the world economy. The 5% increase in GDP over one year in the 1st quarter shows that, unlike the main developed countries, the country has not yet been affected by the consequences of the war in the Middle East. Uncertainties about fossil fuel supplies, with the resulting sharp price increases, as well as disruptions to maritime traffic, have not resulted in a significant rebound in inflation or threats to production chains.
The rate of 5% is identical to that published for the year ...
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The announcement by the rating agency Moody's that France AA will be maintained with a negative outlook is a refutation of the catastrophist discourse widely spread in the political world and in the media. AA is one of the best ratings in the euro area, but the negative outlook is justified by the lack of clarification on the 2026 and 2027 budgets, with the risk of a return to the same political instability that followed the dissolution of the National Assembly in 2024. It is this instability and not the situation of public finances that was at the origin ...
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Le nouvel Etat-stratège
Le dernier livre d'Alain Boublil, le nouvel Etat-statège (Editions de l'Archipel) est paru le 5 février 2014.
Le livre apporte les réponses de son auteur à la question qui est, en France, au centre de tous les débats politiques: "Que peut-on attendre de l'Etat aujourd'hui ? " Et il formule plusieurs suggestions sur l'exercice du pouvoir tirées de son expérience passée auprès de François Mitterrand. Observateur de l'économie mondiale comme conseil des nombreuses grandes entreprises qui ont fait appel à lui, il trace un portrait de la France d'aujourd'hui bien moins pessimiste que ce que l'on entend parfois, à condition que chacun fasse preuve de lucidité sur ses propres comportements.
Les exigences ont certes été exacerbées par la crise. Mais y faire face est de plus en plus difficile car l'écart s'est creusé entre les attentes de chacun et la réduction des marges de manoeuvres publiques du fait des règles internationales, de l'endettement et des contraintes environnementales.
En dix chapitres, Alain Boublil dresse un bilan sans complaisances, prend la mesure des possibilités et des limites de l'Etat et il ouvre des voies nouvelles pour l'action publique. Il évoque le sauvetage de l'euro, le fardeau de la dette et le ras-le-bol fiscal, l'Etat-patron de Colbert à Jean-Marie Messier, le retour du complexe vis-à-vis de l'Allemagne et les nouveaux outils de l'Etat-stratège dans la mondialisation face aux défis industriels, aux enjeux de la transition énergétique, à la "dictature du CO2" et à la révolution du gaz de schiste. Et il met en garde contre les dérives de l'Etat-spectacle, qui gènent l'efficacité de l'action publique et les facilités de l'Etat-guichet qui débouchent sur le clientélisme.
La Publication la plus lue
4/05/2026
French version
INSEE has just published its first estimate of the growth figures of the French economy in the 1st quarter of 2026, i.e. 0%. Comments about this stagnation do not seem to have understood the nature of the problem. Just because we went from +0.2% in the 4th quarter of 2025 to 0% does not mean that there is ...
Continue reading