French Policymakers Research Articles

Investigating tax risk’s influence on tax avoidance and debt costs: evidence from France

Purpose This paper aims to examine the impact of tax avoidance on the cost of debt. It also investigates the effect of tax risk on the relationship between tax avoidance and the cost of debt. Design/methodology/approach Two hypotheses are tested on a sample of nonfinancial French firms listed in the société des Bources Françaises 120 index from 2010 to 2022 using the feasible generalized least squares. To ensure the robustness of the findings, the authors changed the measures of tax avoidance and tax risk and used instrumental variable regression to effectively address concerns related to endogeneity. Additional analysis is conducted to examine if the relationship between tax avoidance and the cost of debt varies based on the magnitude of tax risk. Findings The authors found that tax avoidance negatively affects the cost of debt. However, when tax avoidance is associated with a high risk, it impacts positively the cost of debt. Practical implications This study’s findings are relevant to firms, creditors and French lawmakers. Creditors must make their decision to grant credit based simultaneously on proxies of tax avoidance and tax risk. Managers must effectively manage tax risks to protect their financial decisions, urging French policymakers to implement new regulations on corporate tax risk management. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to have investigated the joint impact of tax avoidance and tax risk on the cost of debt in the French context.

Nationwide Audit of Postoperative Mortality and Complications After Digestive Cancer Surgery: Will New Legal Thresholds be Sufficient?

French policymakers recently chose to regulate high-risk digestive cancer surgery (DCS). A minimum of five cases per year should be performed for each of the following types of curative cancer surgery: esophagus/esogastric junction (ECS), stomach (GCS), liver (LCS, metastasis included), pancreas (PCS), and rectum (RCS). This study aimed to evaluate the hypothetical beneficial effects of the new legal minimal volume thresholds on the rates of 90-day postoperative mortality (90POM) for each high-risk DCS. This nationwide observational population-based cohort study used data extracted from the French National Health Insurance Database from 1 January 2015-31 December 2017. Mixed-effects logistic regression models were performed to estimate the independent effect of hospital volume. During the study period, 61,169 patients (57.1 % male, age 69.7 ±12.2 years) underwent high-risk DCS including ECS (n = 4060), GCS (n = 5572), PCS (n = 8598), LCS (n = 10,988), and RCS (n = 31,951), with 90POM of 6.6 %, 6.9 %, 6.0 %, 5.2 %, and 2.9 %, respectively. For hospitals fulfilling the new criteria, 90POM was lower after adjustment only for LCS (odds ratio [OR],15.2; 95 % confidence interval [CI], 9.5-23.2) vs OR, 7.6; 95 % CI, 5.2-11.0; p < 0.0001) and PCS (OR, 3.6; 95 % CI, 1.7-7.6 vs OR, 2.1; 95 % CI, 1.0-4.4; p<0.0001). With higher thresholds, all DCSs showed a lower adjusted risk of 90POM (e.g., OR, 0.38; 95 % CI, 0.28-0.51) for PCS of 40 or higher. Based on retrospective data, thresholds higher than those promulgated would better improve the safety of high-risk DCS. New policies aiming to further centralize high-risk DCS should be considered, associated with a clear clinical pathway of care for patients to improve accessibility to complex health care in France.

The moderating effect of tax risk on the relationship between tax avoidance and firm risk: empirical evidence in the French context

PurposeThis paper aims to study the impact of tax avoidance on corporate risk. It also examines the moderating impact of tax risk on the relationship between tax avoidance and firm risk.Design/methodology/approachBased on available information in the DATASTREAM database about a sample of French firms listed in the CAC 40 from 2010 to 2022, the study uses the feasible generalized least squares method to investigate the impact of tax avoidance on firm risk and the moderating impact of tax risk. To check the robustness of our results, the authors changed the measurement of variables to identify potential biases and they significantly mitigated the endogeneity concerns using instrumental variable regression. Additional estimations were performed, first by using book-tax differences (BTD) and its components, i.e. temporary and permanent, and second by retesting hypotheses of years before the outbreak of the corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.FindingsThe results show that tax avoidance negatively affects the firm risk while tax risk has a positive effect on firm risk. More importantly, tax risk moderates the negative impact of tax avoidance on the firm risk. When tax avoidance is associated with a high level of tax risk, it leads to a high firm risk. Accordingly, tax avoidance should be considered in conjunction with tax risk when studying the effect put on the firm risk. Further analyses indicate that tax risk moderates the negative relationship between permanent BTD and firm risk.Research limitations/implicationsThe major limitation of this study is that it focuses only on French-listed firms, which make it difficult to generalize the results. Furthermore, the authors did not introduce governance variables into our models. An effective governance system and transparent information can reduce some of the perverse effects of risky tax avoidance by reducing the tax avoidance costs. The obtained results are of great interest to researchers who need to include the tax risk concept in their examination of the tax avoidance impacts.Practical implicationsThe results are useful for investors wishing to make sound decisions regarding risky tax avoidance practices. Furthermore, the results may signal the need for French policymakers to make more efforts to reduce risky tax avoidance activities that are harmful to investors. They must enforce the existence and the reporting of a tax risk management strategy by firms.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the growing body of literature on the tax avoidance effects with a special focus on firm risk. This study provides the first French evidence of the role of tax risk in the relationship between tax avoidance and firm risk.

Analyzing arguments on tobacco tax increases. Focus on French parliamentary questions and responses, 2000-2020.

Tax increases are the most effective but still the least-used tobacco control measure. The tobacco industry (TI) employs lobbying strategies to oppose the implementation of tax policies on its products. Over the past two decades, French tobacco tax policies have been characterized by a relative inconsistency. This research aims to understand why, by analyzing the arguments of French policymakers (MPs and government) between 2000 and 2020 in favor or against tax increases. To capture parliamentary debates, we performed an advanced term search on the French National Assembly website, using the keyword 'tobacco'. The search returned 5126 available documents out of which 1106 (12.6%, 645 questions, 461 responses) covered price and taxation and were included. They were analyzed using descriptive statistics and thematic content analysis (NVivo) and were compared, when relevant, to arguments raised in the international literature on TI lobbying against taxation increases. We found 3176 arguments on tobacco taxation: 77.2% were against tobacco tax increases and 22.7% were in favor of tax policies. Arguments varied depending on the source: 92.4% of MPs' arguments were against tax increases, while 52.1% of arguments from government responses were in favor. The anti-tax arguments were similar to those identified in the international literature that singled out negative economic and social consequences (illicit trade, penalizing tobacconists). Other arguments that were more specific to the French context, highlighted the key economic and social role played by tobacconists in France. Pro-tax arguments highlighted the health, economic and social benefits of tax policies. This is the first French tobacco research on parliamentary documents, although Parliament is a place of direct TI lobbying. It will enable public health actors to better understand the arguments used by the TI in order to counter them in front of MPs, and to better monitor debates in Parliament.

Cost of exome analysis in patients with intellectual disability: a micro-costing study in a French setting

BackgroundWith the development of next generation sequencing technologies in France, exome sequencing (ES) has recently emerged as an opportunity to improve the diagnosis rate of patients presenting an intellectual disability (ID). To help French policy makers determine an adequate tariff for ES, we aimed to assess the unit cost per ES diagnostic test for ID from the preparation of the pre-analytical step until the report writing step and to identify its main cost drivers.MethodsA micro-costing bottom-up approach was conducted for the year 2018 in a French setting as part of the DISSEQ study, a cost-effectiveness study funded by the Ministry of Health and performed in collaboration with the GAD (Génétique des Anomalies du Développement), a genetic team from the Dijon University Hospital, and a public sequencing platform, the Centre National de Recherche en Génomique Humaine (CNRGH). The analysis was conducted from the point of view of these two ES stakeholders. All of the resources (labor, equipment, disposables and reagents, reusable material) required to analyze blood samples were identified, collected and valued. Several sensitivity analyses were performed.ResultsThe unit nominal cost per ES diagnostic test for ID was estimated to be €2,019.39. Labor represented 50.7% of the total cost. The analytical step (from the preparation of libraries to the analysis of sequences) represented 88% of the total cost. Sensitivity analyses suggested that a simultaneous price decrease of 20% for the capture kit and 50% for the sequencing support kit led to an estimation of €1,769 per ES diagnostic test for ID.ConclusionThis is the first estimation of ES cost to be done in the French setting of ID diagnosis. The estimation is especially influenced by the price of equipment kits, but more generally by the organization of the centers involved in the different steps of the analysis and the time period in which the study was conducted. This information can now be used to define an adequate tariff and assess the efficiency of ES.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT03287206 on September 19, 2017.

Effects of possible changes in natural gas, nuclear, and coal energy consumption on CO2 emissions: Evidence from France under Russia’s gas supply cuts by dynamic ARDL simulations approach

The study explores the influences of potential changes in energy consumption on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, focusing on disaggregated energy consumption sources. In this manner, the study considers France as the leading nuclear energy-consuming country in Europe, includes yearly data between 1970 and 2021, and performs the dynamic autoregressive distributed lag (DYNARDL) model. In addition, the Kernel-based regularized least squares (KRLS) is used for robustness check. The results reveal that (i) cointegration exists between the disaggregated energy consumption indicators and CO2 emissions; (ii) nuclear, natural gas, oil, and coal energy have a statistically significant effect on CO2 emissions, while renewable energy is not statistically significant; (iii) nuclear power has a decreasing effect on CO2 emissions; (iv) positive (i.e., increasing) shocks to nuclear reduce CO2 emissions, even if they are 300 % in the case of counterfactual shocks; (v) any positive (i.e., increasing) shocks to coal have a drastically increasing effect on CO2 emissions, even if they are 25 % in the case of counterfactual shocks; (vi) the KRLS approach confirms the robustness of the results. Thus, this study suggests that France should continue to rely on nuclear power for electricity generation and that French policymakers should reduce electricity exports to European Union countries to provide an alternative against the Russian natural gas shock by preventing a reduction in energy supply.

Characterizing population-based health care needs at the departement level in France

Abstract Aligning health care spending with population needs is a goal shared by many public health and health care systems. However, most modelling approaches have proven deceptive and ineffective. We propose a novel data-driven, population-based approach to help policymakers explore the discrepancies between spending and needs in France. We leveraged several national open data sources covering demographics, social deprivation, epidemiology, environment, health-related behaviors, and all-payer health care spending (hospital inpatient, prescription medicines, ambulatory events, and dental care). We classified the French “departements” (hereafter counties) into clusters that are homogeneous in terms of health care needs, based on a multidimensional framework. Then, we calculated all-payer per capita health care spending to analyze its within- and between-cluster variation. Based on these findings, we designed a web-based, interactive mapping tool dedicated to French policymakers and payers. The analysis shows 7 clusters of French counties differing in terms of health care needs and spending. The higher-needs/lower-spending and lower-needs/higher spending clusters suggest considerable room for improvement through a regional distribution of spending at least partially based on needs. Most interestingly, the data we used is publicly available, but policymakers lack expertise and time to undergo such analyses themselves. We plan to develop a dynamic and more granular version of the tool to allow policymakers to accurately design and evaluate health care policies.

Precarious multiplicity: France, ‘foreign fighters’ and the containment of difference

This article investigates the portrayal by French policy-makers of the so-called Islamic State ‘foreign fighters’. I provide an in-depth analysis of the discursive construction of these ‘foreign fighters’ as different and detached from the (French) Self. I do so through a questioning of the notion of multiplicity, revealing how it exists precariously and the consequences this precariousness has on the notion itself. First, multiplicity emerges in ‘strange’ places as identities are being remodelled through new combinations. Second, the coexistence implied by multiplicity needs to be complexified to account for the way it helps preserve but also sometimes erase difference (and thus multiplicity itself). Finally, because of the precariousness of multiplicity, unexpected outcomes can be produced by the encounter with difference (such as the policy of non-repatriation of the ‘foreign fighters’). Overall, multiplicity can be usefully questioned by looking at these instances of instability and doubt. As such, this article shares the concerns expressed by critical scholars that multiplicity recreates problematic distinctions between inside and outside. As a response, my analysis contributes to an understanding of multiplicity as always in the making, revealing how various discursive strategies are used to temporarily and imperfectly stabilise boundaries.

Board directors' home regions and CSR disclosure: evidence from France

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to examine the impact of directors' home regions on corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure. Specifically, the authors aim to determine whether Anglo-American, European, French, other European and other regional directors' presence affects CSR disclosure differently.Design/methodology/approachThis empirical study uses panel data analysis of all listed firms on the SBF 120 from 2008 to 2019. The environmental, social and governance (ESG) scores are collected from the Bloomberg database and indicate the extent of CSR information disclosure by French companies. The paper is based on a dynamic generalized method of moments panel estimator that makes it possible to control for unobservable heterogeneity and endogeneity and reduces estimation bias.FindingsThe findings of this study provide evidence that home region diversity and the presence of Anglo-Americans on a board are positively and significantly associated with ESG disclosure and environmental disclosure, whereas they are negatively associated with social and governance disclosure. Surprisingly, when directors come from European countries, they disclose less ESG and environmental information. Nevertheless, when only French directors are present, the company tends to divulge all dimensions of CSR. Indeed, while there is a significant positive influence of French directors on ESG disclosure, the presence of other European directors displays negative and statistically significant regression coefficients.Research limitations/implicationsThis study may be interesting the French policy makers who can now pay more appropriate attention to directors' nationality or region. Thus, firms should identify the foreign directors who can support their strategy with relevant experience in terms of CSR. This could help to change the opinion of some companies that consider the internalization of the board as a constraint rather than an opportunity. These results will be useful for French-listed companies in setting the criteria for the appointment of foreign directors. It may be interesting to recruit directors across European boundaries.Practical implicationsThis paper attempts to provide a better understanding of the effects of the home regions of directors on CSR disclosure in order to enlighten corporate managers whose companies operate in different cultures given that they have to deal with this aspect. In this international business environment, CEOs should increasingly consider the international CSR experience of directors to be a resource. In addition, this study may be of relevance to French market authorities, which constantly encourage firms to diversify the profiles of directors on their boards and recruit more international members.Originality/valueThis study is the first to evince that the disclosure of each CSR disclosure score differs depending on the directors' home regions. Unlike previous studies, the authors focused simultaneously on the resource-based view (RBV) and institutional theory.

Effects of introducing low-cost high-speed rail on air-rail competition: Modelling and numerical analysis for Paris-Marseille

Given the trend of railway liberalization in Europe and Asia, we explore the effects of introducing low-cost high-speed rail as an answer to the railway reform on air-rail competition. In particular, by proposing a vertically differentiated model, we first derive the optimal pricing policies as well as the corresponding profits and market shares for low-cost high-speed rail (LCR), full-service high-speed rail (FSR) and air transport (Air). We do so for two types of LCR entrants, namely the incumbent owned entrant (to the FSR company) and the independently owned entrants. For both situations, we prove analytically that introducing LCR leads to reduced FSR and Air fares as well as to reduced Air traffic. The fare and traffic reductions increase with the passenger's time value and with the LCR travel time, while they decrease with the Air unit seat cost. Moreover, all LCR effects are stronger for an independently operated LCR. We apply our model to the Paris-Marseille route, based on data collected from publicly available sources. It is found that introducing an independently owned (incumbent owned) LCR on this route leads to 39% (33%) less air traffic, 20% (14%) less FSR traffic and a 37% (29%) increase in total rail traffic. Furthermore, this comes with increases of 2% (8%) in combined railway profit and 6% (5%) in total social welfare. These results support the decision of French policy makers to have LCR and FSR operated by the same company, as it comes with much higher combined railway profits and almost the same welfare increase as independently owned LCR. Further sensitivity analyses suggest that most LCR passengers would otherwise have traveled by FSR or Air, although LCR also attracts new passengers. In addition, offering a low-cost alternative is more effective if passengers value time more highly. Implications in terms of methodology and industry are provided.

Hegemonic Field Effects in World Politics: The United States and the Schuman Plan of 1950

AbstractThis paper casts American influence over the Schuman Plan of May 1950 as a hegemonic field effect, pushing forward recent attempts to develop more dynamic models of hegemonic ordering in world politics. Far from an automatic enactment of US preferences for European unification by French policy-makers, as prevailing macro-level theories imply, the Schuman Plan—French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman's proposal to pool French and German coal and steel—was the product of a “structural homology” that developed between the French and American political fields after 1945. American officials in Paris, empowered by their control of Marshall Aid, fostered an alignment of the French and American political fields, empowering centrist coalitions and technocratic planners in France, who favored pro-capitalist, pro-European integration policies, of which the Schuman Plan was a signature artifact. The paper explores the implications of this historical case for the further development of relational meso-level theories of hegemony.

Noncompliance to blood donor selection criteria by men who have sex with men – Complidon 2017, France

In France, blood donation deferral for men who have sex with men (MSM) was reduced from permanent to 12months in July 2016. Assessing noncompliance (rate and reasons) with this criterion is important to maintain a high level of viral safety in blood products. An anonymous online survey (Complidon) of a sample of blood donors was conducted in 2017. Data were post-stratified to be representative of all those who donated blood between July 2016 and December 2017. A multivariable analysis was performed to assess factors associated with noncompliance. Among male donors, 0·73% [95% CI: 0·63-0·83] reported having sex with men in the 12months preceding their donation. Factors associated with noncompliance were as follows: young age, a low educational level, concerns about privacy, and better knowledge of donor selection criteria and the window period than compliant men. More than half of noncompliant MSM donors (57·6% [95% CI: 50·6-64·3]) felt that sexual orientation should not be a criterion for donation, 47·2% [95% CI: 40·4-54·0] did not disclose their male-to-male sexual relations in order to avoid being excluded from donating, 40·5% [95% CI: 34·0-47·4] reported using condoms and 21·8% [95% CI: 16·7-27·9] had the same male partner for at least 12months. Complidon showed that compliance with blood donation criteria in MSM was high, but not optimal, especially among younger men. HIV residual risk did not increase after the implementation of 12-month deferral. Data from Complidon helped French policymakers to assess the additional HIV risk posed by increased access to blood donation for MSM.

Inequity in access to personalized medicine in France: Evidences from analysis of geo variations in the access to molecular profiling among advanced non-small-cell lung cancer patients: Results from the IFCT Biomarkers France Study

In this article, we studied geographic variation in the use of personalized genetic testing for advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and we evaluated the relationship between genetic testing rates and local socioeconomic and ecological variables. We used data on all advanced NSCLC patients who had a genetic test between April 2012 and April 2013 in France in the frame of the IFCT Biomarqueurs-France study (n = 15814). We computed four established measures of geographic variation of the sex-adjusted rates of genetic testing utilization at the "départment" (the French territory is divided into 94 administrative units called 'départements') level. We also performed a spatial regression model to determine the relationship between département-level sex-adjusted rates of genetic testing utilization and economic and ecological variables. Our results are the following: (i) Overall, 46.87% lung cancer admission patients obtained genetic testing for NSCLC; département-level utilization rates varied over 3.2-fold. Measures of geographic variation indicated a relatively high degree of geographic variation. (ii) there was a statistically significant relationship between genetic testing rates and per capita supply of general practitioners, radiotherapists and surgeons (negative correlation for the latter); lower genetic testing rates were also associated with higher local poverty rates. French policymakers should pursue effort toward deprived areas to obtain equal access to personalized medicine for advanced NSCLC patients.

A legitimate sphere of influence: Understanding France’s turn to multilateralism in Africa

ABSTRACTScholars argue that the 1991 Gulf War, when the United States worked hard to secure approval from the United Nations (UN), set a precedent for legitimate military intervention that other states, especially other liberal democracies, subsequently felt compelled to follow. France, however, continued to intervene unilaterally in its traditional African sphere of influence for several years, without seeking approval from the UN or regional bodies. Even after France drew widespread opprobrium for its support of a murderous regime in Rwanda, French leaders deployed thousands of combat troops unilaterally on various missions. This article relies on original interviews with French policymakers as well as on primary documents to make the case that the 2002–04 Côte d’Ivoire intervention finally steered French Africa policy towards greater multilateralism. It drove home the danger that unilateral interventions could fuel anti-French sentiment among African audiences, undermining France’s regional influence. Ultimately, therefore, concerns about African acceptance more than broader international pressure led France to fully embrace new norms of legitimate intervention.

Multilateralism as a tool: Exploring French military cooperation in the Sahel

ABSTRACTPresident François Hollande entered public office in 2012 with a non-interventionist agenda that promised to draw down French troops in Africa and promoted collective African and European mechanisms to reduce France’s military footprint in the region. One year later, the same president deployed 4,000 combat troops to Mali, initially without any multilateral participation. To understand this apparent contradiction between multilateral rhetoric and operational unilateralism, this article looks at France’s efforts in previous years to establish African and European military operations in support of the Malian state. The article finds that France’s commitment to multilateralism is genuine yet not absolute – meaning that French policy-makers do not shy away from operational unilateralism if conditions on the ground seem to require swift and robust military action, as long as they can count on the political support of key international partners.

Central banking under the gold standard: Rist versus Hawtrey on the policy of the bank of France from 1928 to 1931

It is widely believed that the difficult return to the gold standard during the 1920s and its demise in 1931 intensified the Great Depression. An interesting way of thinking about national and international monetary mechanisms emerged from the debates between French and British policymakers during those years. We attempt to explain the limited cooperation between the Bank of France and the Bank of England during that period of political tension by examining the monetary thinking of Charles Rist and Ralph George Hawtrey. Both were involved in the controversy over the strategy of the Bank of France, which accumulated – and was accused of sterilizing – gold between 1928 and 1931.

Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Preference Formation in France During the Eurozone Crisis

This article analyses the causal factors underlying the formation of French preferences during the Eurozone crisis solving process (2008–2017). Going beyond the clear distinction between national preference formation and interstate bargaining of liberal intergovernmentalism, this article combines new intergovernmentalism, political economy and feedback loops to study the horizontal linkages between different actors included in the process of domestic preference formation. Based on the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) Choices dataset, which includes semi-structured interviews conducted with French policy-makers involved in the European Union negotiations at the highest level, we will concentrate on French preference formation in four negotiations at the European Union level: the 3 May 2010 agreement on bilateral loans to Greece, the initial capitalisation amount of the European Stability Mechanism, the negotiations on the legal nature of the ‘debt-brake’ included in the Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance and the reverse qualified majority voting procedure. The article shows that confidential and restricted administrative networks played a central role in reducing the uncertainty stemming from the fragile financial positions of the hypertrophied domestic banking system. At the same time, French negotiators find themselves between a rock and a hard place during negotiations at the European Union level, not crossing the red line fixed by Germany, on the one hand, and ensuring that policy solutions are compatible with governmental political stance and domestic economic interests, on the other hand. Contrary to recent research pointing out to the increasing influence of domestic public opinion on national preference formation, however, feedback loops between the outcome of the crisis solving process and French politics and policies had very little impact.

Islamization of criminal behaviour: The path to terrorism? Terrorist threat and crime in French counterterrorism policy-formulation

Several studies have covered wide-ranging features of terrorist groups and organization from both a state-centric and a strictly group analysis perspective. Rather than offering insights to determine the ‘nature’ of these forms of violence, this article focuses on states’ perception and process of construction of terrorism based on allegations of being criminals, religious extremists or psychologically disturbed people. It does so by reconstructing the determinants of the way French policy-makers have understood, communicated and approached the terrorist enemy since the 9/11 attacks. More than 150 documents, including parliamentary debates and strategic documents, have been analysed so as to understand the evolution of the image of the threat, its connection to crime and the political implications of this representation.

L’allongement de la durée d’assurance a-t-il atteint sa cible ? Une analyse à partir des données de la Cnav

The 1993 French pension reform reinforced incentives to delay retirement through the increase in the contribution period required to obtain a full pension. The aim is to raise the effective retirement age, thereby extending the duration of careers. Thosewho beganworking at an early agewere considered more vulnerable and were therefore supposed to be exempted from this measure. In this paper, we propose a detailed description of individuals impacted by this reform. More precisely, we examine the extent to which these individuals correspond to the original intended target of French policymakers. We use administrative data fromCNAV, the French basic pension scheme. These data allow us to identify individuals affected by the reform and to precisely describe their professional trajectories. Lastly, we measure the retirement behaviors of individuals impacted by this pension reform, according to their professional trajectories.

The politics of deindustrialisation: the experience of the textiles and clothing sector (1974–1984)

Deindustrialisation is taking an increasingly prominent place in public French discourses and has raised the question of the state’s capacity to spur the country’s industrial rejuvenation. This article views with scepticism the possibility for a state-led reindustrialisation as it finds that deindustrialisation has historically constituted an industrial strategy endorsed by French policy makers themselves. More precisely, this article argues that deindustrialisation is an industrial strategy that involves a state-sponsored disengagement from specific manufacturing activities in order to rationalise the sector and render it apt to confront international competition. This strategy, as it is argued, is conditioned by two main factors: the scarcity of resources that can potentially be distributed to industrial firms and secondly the resistance of workers and businesses in declining sectors that threaten the political legitimacy of governments. To illustrate this claim, the article proposes an examination of the Ministry of Industry’s archives between 1974 and 1984 in order to trace the process industrial policy making enacted towards the textiles and clothing sector. It is found that the consecutive governments of the decade under examination pursued a targeted deindustrialisation of the sector while simultaneously devising strategies aimed at minimising the political costs of this policy preference on the governing authorities.