INSEE, the French statistical office, will publish at the beginning of next week its last estimation of French growth during the fourth quarter and will permit to have a clear vision of the economic achievements in 2017. The debate, regarding numbers, 1.9 or 2%, is fascinating commentators but doesn’t make a lot of sense since official statistics accuracy is not enough to make the difference. 2% looks better, on an optical point of view, than 1.9%. This result shows a clear improvement compared to the five years of stagnation France has bored between 2012 and 2016. The ...

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20 years ago were published the first rules reducing the legal duration of the working time to 35 hours per week. We know how much this measure was criticized at that moment even when it was in practice for a long time in the German industry. The socialists themselves, who were at its origin, are not anymore defending today that reform. As an irony of history, and maybe to celebrate this anniversary, the IG Metall union has just obtained, after a long and tough social battle, the possibility, for its employees who would ask for it, to work only 28 ...

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The French state has issued February 1st a new ten years bond. The rate provided by the market came close to the 1% symbolic barrier, when, since the beginning of the year and during 2017 last quarter, if fluctuated between 0.50 and 0.75%. This move is not isolated. The growth acceleration in the U.S. permits to anticipate a more restrictive monetary policy by the FED. American rates, with the same duration are above 2.70%. The trend is the same in the United Kingdom but for different reasons. The devaluation caused by the Brexit has made imports ...

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