The government wouldn't be the same, the country wouldn't be the same, the economy certainly isn't the same. So nothing that might make them comparable is the same.

Therefore they aren't comparable.
---
edit

While you are working on that I also invoke the butterfly principle of chaos theory. Even if there is the slightest difference you are probably going to get two completely different results. Therefore the starting conditions for any trial have to be identical.

Its not actually a trial, clearly. If you want to get technical you can call it an 'observational study' if you like.

Unfortunately we can't run controlled experiments on whole countries - we can however draw conclusions on observed data. There are obvious limitations but to be blindly ignorant and deny that you can't look at the effects of one policy vs the other while accounting for any other significant factors is rather silly.

On those principles you can compare a jet fighter with a snail and find the snail is faster.


You started off with a far higher expectation that 'observational study'

If you're really interested you should perhaps do some reading on macro economics, if not then you can continue being ignorant and making silly posts. You could at least attempt a coherent argument then other than coming out with the facile statements you've made so far.

Pot kettle grimy bottom calling.

This is politics, and unless you provide evidence to the contrary I can keep my stance going forever.

Macroeconomics is just another series of theories as to how things can be described. Unfortunately it does not take in to account the public attitudes and may not reflect the true state of any single country. In order to try and cover this it is very complex and tbh I can't be arsed to read about it.

The issue here is are the UK and French economies sufficiently similar and I disagree. Britain was coming out of depression and now it has been put back into it. France has been bumping along the bottom, its economy is in a worse state than even Sarcozy's peeps have admitted.

A massive increase in government spending isn't going to do France any good. The chances are it will do the reverse. For the UK we were recovering, and had no change taken place then the economy would have been fine.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/may/06/francois-hollande-rescue-french-economy

Quote from: Serious on May 10, 2012, 14:10:32 PM
Macroeconomics is just another series of theories as to how things can be described. Unfortunately it does not take in to account the public attitudes and may not reflect the true state of any single country. In order to try and cover this it is very complex and tbh I can't be arsed to read about it.

but you're happy to stick your head in the sand...

yes they're different - does that negate a looking at the impact on each of opposing ideas to tackle this crisis - erm no....

am quite happy to visit this thread in a few years time and you'll very likely find that a few articles have been published doing exactly that....

In this case my head is in the sand up to my armpits 

No doubt there will be people writing books trying to do exactly that but I doubt it would be that successful. A proportion of the writers at least will be politicians and I doubt if there will be any consensus as to the conclusions to be drawn.

I think we're talking on rather different levels here... not sure any politicians will have articles published in any journals covering this.

Am happy to re-visit this thread in a few years - interestingly France and the UK both have a target of 2017 to 'balance the budget'.

Just thought I'd bump to say the UK is now the fastest growing economy in the developed world....

Still another few years to go and an election to get through but this austerity policy is hardly looking to be all doom and gloom as some people were indicating... In other news France is growing at a somewhat slower pace.

It'd be interesting to see the quality of life statistics for Britain as well as France, seeing as you mentioned them.

Growth is definitely not the be all and end all of existence. I think most working class people would be more worried about being able to live in a nice house and feed their families easily, with a few little treats chucked in, rather than celebrate growth.

There has been a massive social cost to the cuts and whether or not you deem that a price worth paying will highlight your political leaning and socio economic situation.

As you can probably tell from my post I would rather other measures were used to gauge the performance of the government, rather than economic growth.

Fair points but the subject of the thread is economic growth. While our economies and populations are of a similar size and the economic approaches taken by our govts a rather different they will have at least one potential inherent advantage as far as one aspect of quality of life is concerned - they've got double the land mass.... also throw in a better climate, cultural differences too - my firm has an office in the south of France very different to London - they have a chef, swimming pool, tennis courts on site, eat lunch on balconies/terraces, start work at 9-ish and are out of the office 5pm on the dot... Then again any Frenchie with some sense of ambition and a desire to earn more will move to London. Having said that I'd happily live there and commute over the border if I had a job in Switzerland.

It really depends what you want to consider but in some ways we do better... for example you'd probably be better off as a poor person in London than in Paris... they concentrate their proles out in ghettos on the outskirts whereas places like Islington, London have 50% social housing with council estates just around the corner from town houses in Georgian squares selling for a few million each. Conversely if you're a (not too successful) 'artist'/performer of some form then you're likely much better off in France - you get very very generous benefits - essentially the govt pays you your usual salary in between performances/shows.

In terms of the raw data we're not too different at all (well we rank immediately below them as far as the Economist Intelligence Unit is concerned - placing France 26th and Britain 27th).

http://www.economist.com/news/21566430-where-be-born-2013-lottery-life

Another year on, and UK economy really pulling away from the joke that is Europe.

thats because people realise they need to get up off their arses & work under the tories.
Thought Cameron party speach today was good.

Yeah. I don't think the Tories are perfect; I'd change a lot. But I am constantly shellshocked anyone votes Labour.

It isn't about Cameron, who could still do with some more sense. It's Osborne.

Wow, like I'll take 3 billion pounds off those on low pay and benefits and give it to my uber rich friend's families when they pass on?

A sure vote winner.