Why are the French so wedded to a failing system?<\/p>\n
For starters, they believe that a job is a basic right \u201d\u201d guaranteed in the preamble to their Constitution \u201d\u201d and that making it easier to fire people is an affront to that. Without a C.D.I., you\u2019re considered naked before the indifferent forces of capitalism.<\/p>\n
At one demonstration in Paris, young protesters held a banner warning that they were the \u201cg\u00c3\u00a9n\u00c3\u00a9ration pr\u00c3\u00a9caire.\u201d\u009d They were agitating for the right to grow up. As Jean-Beno\u00c3\u00aet Nadeau and Julie Barlow point out in their new book, \u201cThe Bonjour Effect,\u201d\u009d getting a permanent work contract is a rite of adulthood. Without one, it\u2019s hard to get a mortgage or car loan, or rent an apartment.<\/p>\n
Mainstream economic arguments can\u2019t compete. \u201cBasic facts of economic science are completely dismissed,\u201d\u009d said \u00c3\u2030tienne Wasmer, a labor economist at Sciences Po. \u201cPeople don\u2019t see that if you let employers take risks, they\u2019ll hire more people.\u201d\u009d Instead, many French people view the workplace as a zero-sum battle between workers and bosses.<\/p>\n