France and Fiscal Suicide

 March 7, 2023 by Dan Mitchell

Which European nation has the costliest welfare state? Greece would be a good guess, but it’s only in second place. At the top of the list, according to OECD data, is France, where government spending consumes nearly 60 percent of the nation’s economic output............These numbers are very depressing, but they are going to get worse over time. Like most nations in Europe, France is dealing with demographic decline. People are living longer, and also having fewer children. And that means fewer people pulling the wagon and more people riding in the wagon. The net result is that the burden of government spending is going to climb by another 12 percentage points of GDP over the next four decades.................To Read More......