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As one of the more than 1.6 million French citizen living abroad [1] (2.5% of the French population [2]), I could tell you a lot about the actual effects of att
by crdb 12y ago
As one of the more than 1.6 million French citizen living abroad [1] (2.5% of the French population [2]), I could tell you a lot about the actual effects of attempting to create barriers around the French market.
I'm also not sure French culture is preserved that well in France. Sir Colin Davis was a better Berlioz interpreter than any French conductor I ever heard (and I was born 50km from la Cote St Andre), and even traditional Haute Cuisine is better abroad (particularly in Tokyo - see Apicius).
On the upside, a castle in Normandie or the South West today [3] costs less than a 1 bedroom in the nicer parts of Sydney. And those mostly empty TGVs where first class can be cheaper than second are nice when you need to get between Paris and Geneva and avoid those awful Parisian airports.
Acemoglu and Robinson [4] describe how the descendants of the world-leading Venetian Republicans now serve ice creams on their ancestors' plazas to today's "Venetians", visiting from Houston or Hong Kong. Sometimes, going home for Christmas feels like that. Luckily, London is only 45 minutes away with EasyJet.
[1] http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ais_%C3%A9tablis_hors_de_France#Chiffres http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ais_%C3%A9tablis_hors...
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_France http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_France
[3] http://www.patrice-besse.com/ http://www.patrice-besse.com/ is one of the best sites for castles. http://www.realestate.com.au/ http://www.realestate.com.au/ for Sydney prices.
[4] http://www.amazon.com/Why-Nations-Fail-Origins-Prosperity-ebook/dp/B0058Z4NR8 http://www.amazon.com/Why-Nations-Fail-Origins-Prosperity-eb...
- crdb 12y agoAs an aside/example, here is an entire fortress fortified by Vauban in 1692, a pillar of French royal power for centuries, practically a small village behind the walls, going for only 2.6m EUR: http://www.patrice-besse.com/chateaux-a-vendre/paca/chateau-citadelle-montagne-a-vendre/ http://www.patrice-besse.com/chateaux-a-vendre/paca/chateau-... Although my favorite is: http://www.patrice-besse.com/chateaux-a-vendre/bourgogne/vente-chateau-de-la-rochepot/ http://www.patrice-besse.com/chateaux-a-vendre/bourgogne/ven... - for only 3m EUR you get a moat with lifting bridge, gargoyles, and some real towers to shoot your crossbows from. You never know when the peasants might revolt!
- epsylon 12y ago> I'm also not sure French culture is preserved that well in France. Sir Colin Davis was a better Berlioz interpreter than any French conductor I ever heard (and I was born 50km from la Cote St Andre), and even traditional Haute Cuisine is better abroad (particularly in Tokyo - see Apicius). You can't drop assertions like that while hoping that being French makes you automatically right about French culture. You have a right to your opinion, but please just don't proclaim them as if they were universal truths.
- crdb 12y agoI'm sorry for making a relatively snarky reply to your (genuine, and partially fair) criticism, but "trust only the qualified" is a particularly noxious part of French culture which is, like graphology as an important criteria for hiring decisions, thankfully slowly disappearing outside the civil service and CAC 40...