Battleangel

Common Dreams: Would Europeans really benefit from an American-style economy or has the discourse been hijacked by neoclassical liberals on both sides of the Atlantic? And for that matter, is the American economy doing all that well or is that just a smoke screen as well?

More than a million people in France have taken to the streets against their conservative government’s attempts to change the country’s labor law. Here in the United States, these strikes and protests are generally seen as another example of France’s inability to come to grips with the reality of “the global economy.”

The French government has proposed to allow employers to fire employees under 26 years of age without having to show cause. To Americans this may seem strange, since employers under U.S. law are generally permitted to fire anyone without having to give a reason. But this is not the case in most other high-income countries, and even in many developing countries.

The government claims that employers will hire more people if it is easier to get rid of them, and that therefore unemployment (especially among younger workers) will be reduced. But the available economic research provides little or no evidence for this argument.