Sometimes the New York Times has an easier time understanding freedom in other countries than it does in America. A Times feature that appears in the business section asks, in a headline about France, "can the land of the 35-hour workweek overcome its cultural and regulatory barriers to surpass London and other tech hubs?"
"Regulatory barriers"? Do tell.
Sure enough, under the subheadline, "growth obstacles," the Times reports:
Taxes are high to fund France's social welfare system, and the 3,400-page labor code introduces new regulatory requirements on companies as they get larger....
When [one founder] wanted to offer stock options to lure and retain engineers and designers, the French rules were so complex that he dropped the plan. Social taxes pushed his employee costs to nearly twice what they would be in the United States...."Regulations and taxes have still not evolved enough to allow start-ups to flourish once they get off the ground," [the founder] said.
It's nice to see such clear-eyed reporting from the Times about the costs of taxes and regulations on growth.
