Stimulus in France
Nelson Schwartz writes in the New York Times that French stimulus funds are flowing more rapidly than in the United States. Part of the issue is that a higher proportion of French projects seem explicitly designed to maximize employment rather than serve top-tier policy priorities. This stuff, for example, is more reminiscent of WPA-style projects than of ARRA:
Besides Fontainebleau, about 50 French chateaus are to receive a facelift, including the palace of Versailles. Also receiving funds are some 75 cathedrals like Notre Dame in Paris. A museum devoted to Lalique glass is being created in Strasbourg, while Marseilles is to be the home of a new 10 million euro center for Mediterranean culture.
Basically, if you had tried to do this in the United States it would have been derided as pork. Or else you would have needed to set up a centrally administered slush fund that wouldn’t have played well in the press. It seems to me, though, that the larger issue simply relates to the much larger state sector in the French economy which is naturally going to be more insulated from a sharp downturn. The argument against it would be that this recession is forcing us into some kind of awesome structural adjustments that will pay off in the form of post-crash growth, while France’s insulation from the current “destruction” will hurt them during the “creative” upswing.
22 Responses to “Stimulus in France”
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July 7th, 2009 at 5:46 pm
These are all places that would be used by French and international travelers — travel and tourism are a major business and area of consumer spending — building attractions for folks to visit is an investment not to be sniffed at. Plus the building activity itself is plenty shovel ready stuff.
July 7th, 2009 at 5:49 pm
Basically, if you had tried to do this in the United States it would have been derided as pork.
On the other hand, it’s easier to justify restoration work on buildings that are 700 years old. Those things always have a long list of shit that needs doing — they’re not so much “built” as “always-being-built”, a tower here, a spire there. You wouldn’t be too far from the truth to suggest that a big Gothic cathedral or Renaissance chateau was the kind of investment guaranteed to keep your area decently supplied with craftsmen, which is generally a good thing. That was certainly the case with George Vanderbilt’s pile in western NC: the people who put together Biltmore often stayed around to work on smaller projects, to the benefit of the area.
Still, it’s worth considering the wingnut outrage at refurbishing the National Mall in the context of shared cultural capital. Perhaps Obama should have allowed them to build big phallic monuments to the Confederacy or the Texas Republic or the Independent State of West Bumfuck in their home districts.
July 7th, 2009 at 5:53 pm
I wonder how much employment would have been created if every House member had been given $1 million to spend directly on job creation? Senators could have $10 million. And every dime would have to be spent before the end of FY 2009. For less than $1 billion I bet a lot of jobs would have been created because every congressman and senator would want to brag about how many jobs they have created. That would have given them an incentive to use the money efficiently.
July 7th, 2009 at 5:58 pm
Anyone familiar with maintenance knows that buildings don’t have to be seven hundred years old to need restoration. In fact, there was an interesting article in the NYT yesterday on a once trend setting building in Japan built in 1972 that seems to be beyond restoration.
And this doesn’t even deal with the possible energy and water saving improvements from system upgrades, or with the possibility of managers of large physical plants such as schools, hospitals, or universities having accurate and complete inventories of the equipment they need to maintain.
July 7th, 2009 at 6:12 pm
The French government is highly centralized. An effort to pushing out big projects by that government is naturally going to face smaller hurdles than such an effort would in the US.
July 7th, 2009 at 6:14 pm
“Basically, if you had tried to do this in the United States it would have been derided as pork.”
In fact, if I remember correctly, the world’s worst legislative body passed an amendment that specifically banned the use of stimulus funds for public beautification projects. Because Americans only deserve ugly stimuli, evidently.
July 7th, 2009 at 6:22 pm
Basically, if you had tried to do this in the United States it would have been derided as pork
Or as an illegal use of public money on religion, right?
July 7th, 2009 at 6:26 pm
Why would anyone think there will be a creative upswing and that it will happen here?
July 7th, 2009 at 6:27 pm
Regarding comment 2 by Pseudonymous
I would defintly agree with you about the mall.It does not belong to one city. It belongs to all Americans.It is also the public face of America for millions of foriegn visitors.And it leaves a lasting impression on them one way or the other.
It really bothers me that some visiters would [justifiably] feel that America does not care about it’s own capitol.
Thank you for mentioning the mall Psuedonymous
July 7th, 2009 at 6:44 pm
“banned the use of stimulus funds for public beautification projects. ”
In the US that sort of project tends to be along the lines of “planting flowers by the road”, not “fixing a historic site”.
July 7th, 2009 at 6:54 pm
The WPA employed many artists including Jackson Pollack, Thomas Hart Benton and Mark Rothko.
Projects included the Dock Street Theatre in Charleston and the Merritt Parkway.
July 7th, 2009 at 6:56 pm
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION!
The argument against it would be that this recession is forcing us into some kind of awesome structural adjustments that will pay off in the form of post-crash growth.
The French Revolution was the best stimulus package that the French ever taught of, they simply took all there elite class, up to Madam Guillotine, removed their head from their backsides and put them on quick display prior to throwing them into a basket. Now, that is an eye opener to any politician.
The argument for it would be that a post depression two structural change would have occurred, one the government’s no longer existing, out with the old and in with the new, the new knowing full and well if there were no post-crash growth, their fate would be tie to its failure. And two once again the Elite would come to realize that failure has a price tag attached, that what effects the mass does not effect them, would not enter their heads, if they wanted to keep them on their shoulders.
Consequences are a wonderful thing to get someone’s attention.
July 7th, 2009 at 7:11 pm
Anyone familiar with maintenance knows that buildings don’t have to be seven hundred years old to need restoration.
I agree entirely. But historic buildings of that size and scale often have a continuing history of extension, restoration and remodelling that is easy to sustain in context, whereas building in the US has tended towards periodic tear-down and rebuild. (There’s also an argument that stonemasonry and even bricklaying have become boutique skills in the US, and that you might have trouble finding people with the capability to do the work.)
On the other hand, you’re right about incremental improvement, and the US does have a history of public works infrastructure, albeit one that’s subject to the Standard Wingnut FDR Revisionism Project.
An effort to pushing out big projects by that government is naturally going to face smaller hurdles than such an effort would in the US.
That’s true, but the National Mall project was one that was solely in Congress’s hands, and the block on beautification funds was solely on account of the GOP leadership acting like assholes.
July 7th, 2009 at 8:27 pm
Fountainbleau and the other chateaux are major tourist attractions (have been for hundreds of years) and always generate spending for the villages. Similar US projects would be fixing up sites at national landmarks, parks, etc. as noted, similar to WPA projects in the Depression.
July 7th, 2009 at 10:11 pm
You are right, Matt. I for one look forward to that far off day when I can finally bid those decadent, central planning Frenchies au revoir, vous les chiens Socialistes.
Because, let’s face it, once this never ending recession lifts le Republique francaise is going to be in big trouble, whereas America will begin, once again, to trip the light fantastic -Capitalist style.
July 8th, 2009 at 12:08 am
So how does this play into the anti stimulus stance of Merkel and the conservative monetary policies of the ECB? Europe seems to be heading toward a clash that was probably inevitable result of centralized monetary policy and decentralized political power.
July 8th, 2009 at 5:41 am
This is an extremely reasonable thing for the French to do. Centralized government or no, this is the sort of thing they are going to spend money on at some point since perserving those buildings has both cultural and financial value. Doing most of the work during a recession is basically a perfect use of counter-cyclic spending. The government is a patient investor so while most businesses are cutting back because they don’t see great opportunities in the 12-24 month time horizon, the government has cheap access to credit and a long time horizon. And can alleviate the economic cycle by maintaining employment and productivity while the private sector falters.
The United States has a similar laundry list of stuff it could do. Tons of transportation related issues, not to mention all the state spending problems. Plenty of issues that absolutely mandate funding at some point. Why weren’t they addressed? I don’t know if it’s entirely the Republican’s fault, or the Dems share some of the blame. Certainly the broken nature of our political system is massively at fault. Also the decentralization of many of the normal fund-raising and spending avenues for these tasks certainly make them less natural for the congress to tackle, but it’s not as if there is any practical curtailment of federal authority that would prevent them from picking up the responsibility or assisting those that have it if they wanted to.
July 8th, 2009 at 7:50 am
Bruce I LOVE that idea! I’m sure policy wonk will provide 20 reasons why it wouldn’t work, but here in Minnesota I could see how it would cause Congressman to be very efficient. Imagine hearing that the 5th district congressperson’s plan has already created 25 jobs and you’re in the 6th sitting on your tail…there would be no greater motivator for transparency and efficiency. Although I would make it $2M per congressperson and $10M per Senator for a total of $1.5B
k1
July 8th, 2009 at 9:55 am
There’s also an argument that stonemasonry and even bricklaying have become boutique skills in the US, and that you might have trouble finding people with the capability to do the work.
Hire a mix of skilled and unskilled people and have the former train and supervise the latter as they work. It’ll go a bit slower but when you’re done you’ll have more skilled workers, which is an investment. IIRC some of the New Deal programs worked this way, too. Get a steady paycheck *and* learn a useful skill that you can take to the private sector.
Human beings aren’t ants – skills are learnable.
July 8th, 2009 at 10:50 am
Hmmm, correction.
Let’s rephrase this.
yeah, that’s more like what goes on here. I’m sick of making excuses for these wusses. they don’t even try, then when whatever crap they do come up with inevitably doesn’t work, they claim to have tried but that something forced their hand. nothing forces their hand, ever, except for their own lack of spine and real beliefs or principles in the first place.
July 8th, 2009 at 11:39 am
Still waiting for Matt to describe exactly what “awesome structural adjustments” we’ve made to usher in a glorious new era, unless you count shoveling trillions of dollars from the rest of us to a massively bloated financial sector responsible for our current mess. And waiting to be told why spending to repair crumbling national infrastructure doesn’t represent good value for money.
July 8th, 2009 at 2:09 pm
The French central administration system is way superior to a federal system when it comes to fast stimulus spending.
In Germany, the other extreme is happening. The staates hardly spent anything at all so far. They were to occupied with negotiations about who gets how much.
The best however is an anecdote from my home village. They even stopped to build something because they hope for stimulus funding if they start later.