08/11/2005 6:01:00 pm
In IHT: Paris - the Face of an Anti-Social Model. In today?s International Herald Tribune, I had a piece about the riots in Paris and their main causes and possible solutions in the long run.

"France is one of the strongest defenders of the so-called European Social Model. The main feature of the Model is a big state ? with high taxes, a regulated labour market, public welfare monopolies and large social security systems. But after the events in Paris, isn?t it about time that France too realises that this is an anti-social model that we should leave behind?

A regulated labour market creates unemployment. Those without jobs feel a great insecurity but so do those with jobs; they know that should they lose it they wouldn?t find another. The young people in Western Europe ? often with many years of education ? can?t find any job and lose the hope for the future.

The high taxes of the Model don?t only reduce people?s opportunities to run their own lives, it also puts a brake on growth. Economic activity is low and living standards stagnate at best; and in several places deteriorate. Since small companies pay high taxes and are extremely regulated, that way to a better life is also shut for many.

The anti-social effects of the Model strike even harder for immigrants. Regulated housing markets produce ghetto-like suburbs. Since hiring always involves a risk for the employer, a regulated and unionised labour market excludes immigrants. They are deprived of their opportunities to compete.

If we don?t focus on change in order to disarm this bomb, which is ticking all over Western Europe, we will see Paris of today repeated elsewhere too."

Read the entire article here - >