The Long French Goodbye

In France, if things aren’t going well for your business, you can’t just close up shop and cut loose your workers — you actually have to prove that you can’t afford to stay open. It’s a system designed to protect workers, but it also has consequences for the rest of the economy. “I tend to think that it hurts. The bad efforts of this is showing up more and more,” says Bernard Salanié, professor of economics and chair.