Has French budgetary policy since the 1970s been truly Keynesian?*

Abstract

The article shows that budgetary policy in France since the 1970s cannot be characterized as Keynesian. To prove this, two rules of behaviour compatible with Keynesian teaching are proposed and then compared with changes in budgetary balances and with a battery of stylized facts. The article calls for a fiscal stimulus allowing production capacities to be fully used for the first rule, or the return to full employment for the second. The article also points to potential ways of showing that the objective of full employment is not incompatible with the ecological transition and can be more easily reachable with a reduction in work hours.