It's interesting. I wonder if this kind of protectionism will become more common/useful as lower-skilled jobs become harder and harder to come by. In the past

It's interesting. I wonder if this kind of protectionism will become more common/useful as lower-skilled jobs become harder and harder to come by. In the past, reduction of prices via higher efficiencies (= fewer jobs) has generally been a near-universal good: it freed up the workforce for other, more useful activities. Nowadays, there doesn't seem to be any new segment of industry spurring lower-skilled job growth. The flip side of prices getting lower is that job availability/quality goes down. One could see France's stand against higher efficiencies as, effectively, a form of monetary redistribution. Perhaps the choice is between a society with low prices and a large underclass of un/under-employed, or higher prices and most people being able to make ends meet. If you're going to choose the higher-prices approach, the French method of redistribution at least maintains valuable cultural elements and a culture of needing to work - as opposed to straight benefits.