Typically French attitudes (2)
  • French myths
  • Gambling in France
  • More to come (page under construction)...
 

French myths

All countries have their myths which are beliefs almost everyone in the country shares and which may surprise anyone outside the country. Some of them are more or less true, others less so. French myths include :

  • " the State can fix anything " i.e. " the king can help me " : for this reason, former (socialist) Prime Minister lost all hopes to become President the day he observed " the State cannot do everything ". An illustration : in high school, when you learn economy, you learn a large majority of macro-economy (public policies, money, public investments, tariffs, ) and very little micro-economy (the entrepreneur, the customer, demand and supply, prices)
  • " a political project is more important than factual constraints " : for instance, if you want both to reduce a deficit AND reduce taxes and increase expenses, this is not a contradiction, it is a policy
  • " the world loves the French and France " or " our society is considered a model ". An anecdote about it : two years ago, my wife Harriet Welty was invited to a very popular TV show. The theme was " why do other people consider the French so unpleasant ?". I was seated in the audience next to a very charming young student in a business school who told me " I love this show but I do not understand the subject : everybody loves us worldwide "
  • " France is the homeland of the Rights of Man " or " the world needs France to stand for them " : should anything happen in the world, there is a general consensus in the country that France MUST do or say something.
  • More to come....

Leisure : gambling in France

In 2006, the French bet 36,9 bn ¤ i.e. 50 bn $ (on horses, in lotteries, in casinos : see figures). French gambling laws are another example of the French specificity with regard to the role of the State. As in most Western countries, gambling is considered dangerous because it can become addictive, and it is tightly regulated. The rule is : it is forbidden unless authorized and controlled by the State. Horse races are regulated by a public body called PMU (Pari Mutuel Urbain), betting games and lotteries are organized by a state-owned company, la Française des Jeux, and casinos are authorized by the Ministry of Interior on a case-by-case basis. On-line bets are forbidden. Therefore, no outsider can enter the mlarket and of course the European authorities, in the name of free competition are likely to take France to the European Court of Justice to force it to open the gambling market to competition and France will certainly lose its case. However, the position of France is :

  • It is normal that the State regulates and controls an activity which can be socially so dangerous : it is its responsibility and it will do it better than the market
  • the State's share of the bets (around 25%) remains in France and is partly assigned to programs which are globally well-accepted (such as the program on improving horse breeding or the program on subsidizing sports for everybody)
  • It is more "moral" to see all this money go to the French State than to go to a foreign maffia and then to a tax haven
  • The position of the European Commission is far too dogmatic : free competition has nothing to do with gambling.
  • More about the French and the State.

  •  bn Euros
    		  Bets (2006)  State's share
     Horse races

     8,1

     2,2
     Games and lotteries

     9,5

     3,8
     Casinos

     19,3

     2,7

     Total

     36,9

     8,7
  • Regarding the amount of bets on horse races, France ranks fourth after Japan (23,5 bn Ruros), U.K. (15,6 bn) and the U.S.A. (14,2 bn)
  • The most popular games are :
    • On horses : "Tiercé" (3 first horses) or "quinté" (5 first horses)
    • Lotteries : "loto" (6 numbers out of 49), "Keno", "Euromillions"
    • Many games in which you scratch a hidden (maybe) winning number or image
    • In casinos : mostly "roulette" (36 numbers) or "boule" (9 numbers)

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Harriet Welty Rochefort writes articles and books about France and the French. Order her books :

  • "French Toast, An American in Paris Celebrates The Maddening Mysteries of the French", St.Martin's Press, New York, 1999
  • "French Fried, The Culinary Capers of An American in Paris", St.Martin's Press, New York, 2001
  • "French Toast - Heureuse comme une Américaine en France", Ramsay, Paris 2005

More on Harriet's books (excerpts, upcoming events, testimonials, etc..)

Together or separately, Harriet and Philippe speak about Intercultural Differences : click here for information.

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