The French and money

Facts and figures The well-off and their image Page under construction

Facts and figures about money

Emigration : one of the current problems in France is that the flow of people emigrating has become significant : either for tax reasons : wealthy people refusing to pay ISF, the tax on wealth, and moving to Belgium or Switzerland (several hundred a year) or for a better life : young well-educated professionals wishing to find a better paid job in London or in New York more rapidly (10 to 20,000 a year) As someone said : " The French keep hunting the rich and wonder why they fly away. They are the only hunters surprised to see the game trying to escape. " Envy : during the last presidential campaign, the Secretary general of the Socialist Party (François Hollande) was asked about the policy of the Left if its candidate was elected. As he had explained they would raise the taxes, he added " I must admit I don't like the wealthy ". When the journalist asked at what income he considered somebody wealthy, he said 4,000 Euros a month (5,500 $), which is only about twice the average income. Checks and chip cards : All French payment cards are Chip cards (since the end of the 1980s : see who invented them) the smallest shop have the terminal to read them Contrary to the US, almost all cards are debit cards and the French use credit cards very rarely ; card bills are generally paid monthly by automatic bank wiring The French use checks much more often than the other Europeans (29% vs. 11% in 2004) but this % is diminishing

Corruption : most French think that their State is more impartial and their civil servants more honest than in other countries. This belief is largely shared. Although this is a difficult domain to explore, most studies (including by NGO Tranparency International) show that the situation in France is just average compared to the other Western countries (ranking 18th) : see figures Money scandals : while Anglo-Saxon countries have sex scandals, France enjoys permanent scandals about money, bribes to foreign dictators (ELF 1990s), " gifts " to politicians (Beregovoy, Dumas, 1990s), insider trading (EADS 2007), private use of public money (Chirac 1970-2007), etc... Money vs. leisure : contrary to what you would expect, a majority of people (53%) understand that shops are closed on Sunday and, if given the choice, would refuse to work on Sunday and make more money. More about it. Gold : the French love gold and they are among the largest (if not the largest) gold holders in the world : ingots for many, coins for most (there is always a grandpa or an uncle to present a little "Napoleon" gold coin to a kid). The reason : in case of war, you never know.... More anecdotes about the French and money ; read Brunet. More to come

DID YOU KNOW THAT....? The Franc, which disappeared forever on February 17, 2002 was created in 1360 by King Jean II "le Bon" ; this means : the Valiant, and it is an absurd name for a king who was a notorious idiot, lost the battle of Poitiers and spent 3 years in London, a prisoner of the English. The Franc ("franc" means : free) helped free him for a huge ransom.

The well-off and their image...

The image of wealth and rich people is extremely negative. For most French and for the French media : You can be an entrepreneur but please remain small ! The image of entrepreneurs is good (60% positive) for small companies (less than, 250 employees) and bad for bigger and international companies (25% only) (Source : IPSOS April 2004) The shareholder is a thief ! To the question " to whom does a company have duties " the answer was : to clients 78%, to employee 71%, to the State, the environment, etc.. (20 to 30%), to shareholders only 6% (same source) According to Forbes (2007) the richest Frenchman is Bernard Arnault, who created LVMH (Vuitton, Dior, etc...), with a fortune of $ 26 bn. Read about the 5 richest. More to come....

The relationhip of the French to money is somewhat like the relationship of Puritans to sex : they like it but they pretend not to and they do not like to talk about it. In France, if you are rich you do not show it : it is considered very bad taste. A typical example being the traditional rich "bourgeois" from Lyon who drives in town an old dilapidated Peugeot to his garage in the suburb where he parks his sumptuous Mercedes. Why ? Most authors explain this by the influence of Catholicism, particularly after the Catholic reaction during the War of Religion in the 16th century (see Weber or Peyrefitte). People admire old traditional wealth more than recent wealth and they despise "nouveaux riches" (new money). President Sarkozy and money : it is interesting to note that a large majority of the French were not shocked to see the new president divorce his wife and having an affair with glamorous Carla Bruni but a majority was shocked to see him celebrating his election on a yacht belonging to billionaire Vincent Bolloré. It is clear that Sarkozy wants the French to change their attitude regarding money and their view on people who became rich, but it will not be easy....

To table of contents To intercultural differences To French attitudes Back to home page	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 More on Harriet's books (excerpts, upcoming events, testimonials, etc..)	site still under construction
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