A REEXAMINATION OF THE REASONS FOR THE FAILURE OF KEYNESIAN EXPANSIONARY POLICIES IN FRANCE, 1981-1983

After the election of President Mitterand in 1981, France embarked alone on a Keynesian expansionary programme at a time of world recession and when France's partners were pursuing restictive economic policies. The experiment failed, but the reasons for its failure are still the subject of debate. Some of the issues addressed here are whether Keynesian policies have become irrelevant in the new post-stagflation environment, or whether the causes of the failure are to be found not in the theory as such but rather in its implementation, and in the reluctance of the French government to operate outside the EMS guidelines.