This cross-country paper explains differences in external sector performance among four large euro area countries—France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. The paper discusses that during 2001–04, the performance of the external sector differed markedly among these four largest euro area countries....

Fiscal deficits and the public debt has grown throughout much of the postwar period in most industrialized countries under the pressure of rising public expenditure, a trend that has begun to reverse after 1992. A number of studies argue that fiscal consolidation in association with expenditure...

This paper examines external adjustment in the U.S., Japan and Germany from the perspective of net foreign asset positions. It asks two questions: What are, in the long run, the determinants of net foreign asset equilibrium? and: What are, in the short run, the adjustment mechanisms sustaining...

This Selected Issues paper reviews developments in health care spending in France and discusses the recent measures to improve the functioning of the system and contain costs. It argues that by addressing many of the issues that had bedeviled past reforms, the new measures offer a reasonable...

This paper describes economic developments in France during 1990–95. Partner country demand recovered markedly in the course of 1993, following a sharp downturn since the middle of 1992. The surge of exports during the second half of 1993 was followed by a temporary stabilization at a higher...

This paper describes economic developments in France during the 1990s. The recovery of activity that took hold in the second half of 1993 slackened markedly in early 1995. The slowdown was initially evident in domestic demand, particularly private consumption. This was followed by a weakening in...

This Selected Issues paper addresses the question of what policy changes in France are needed under European Monetary Union (EMU), as regards the role of fiscal policy in stabilizing the economy. The fiscal strategy over the past two and a half decades is reviewed, and, against this background,...

This paper analyzes a broad range of price and nonprice indicators to assess developments in the international competitiveness of the French economy during the 1980s and early 1990s. The paper provides a brief review of conceptual issues concerning the competitiveness indicators used in this...