Jean-Pierre Robin: “The French economy and society caught in the“ low-cost ”trap”

The Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Kristalina Georgieva, recently regretted this tenacious trend in the world economy: everything is “ low ”. " Low growth, low inflation, low productivity, low rates. Low growth, low inflation, low productivity, low interest rates, in the language of Molière, who would have appreciated the list, as a follower of rehearsal comedy!

It is certainly not depression, but a generalized low pressure. The economic situation has become flaccid like the famous soft watches of Salvador Dali whose dials fold. The concept of "low-cost" appeared shortly after the Second World War in second-hand clothes (Tati in Paris in 1948), then in air transport, before spreading to all sectors of distribution with "hard discount" ". It now concerns the whole of economic life and society.

Ultimately, the economic policies pursued by governments are themselves “low-cost”.

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