Family Values

July 29, 2005
French Family Values
By PAUL KRUGMAN

Americans tend to believe that we do everything better than anyone else. That belief makes it hard for us to learn from others. For example, I've found that many people refuse to believe that Europe has anything to teach us about health care policy. After all, they say, how can Europeans be good at health care when their economies are such failures?

Now, there's no reason a country can't have both an excellent health care system and a troubled economy (or vice versa). But are European economies really doing that badly?

The answer is no. Americans are doing a lot of strutting these days, but a head-to-head comparison between the economies of the United States and Europe - France, in particular - shows that the big difference is in priorities, not performance. We're talking about two highly productive societies that have made a different tradeoff between work and family time. And there's a lot to be said for the French choice.

First things first: given all the bad-mouthing the French receive, you may be surprised that I describe their society as "productive." Yet according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, productivity in France - G.D.P. per hour worked - is actually a bit higher than in the United States.

It's true that France's G.D.P. per person is well below that of the United States. But that's because French workers spend more time with their families.

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Nothing highlights social conservatives' hypocrisy than the fact that they beat the drum for "family values" yet refuse to support or outright oppose policies which actually support families.

The U.S. has by far the least modern approach to reconciling work and family life. We allow little maternity leave or time for family. Want to have a baby? Sure, just be back at the desk in a couple of months, eh? Got to take time for a sick spouse or family member? Fine, but get back soon or your job belongs to someone else. We're not here to help you work through your life, kid. In other words, choose between taking care of your family's financial health or physical and emotional health. You can't do both. So many people don't. And they end up criticized for it.

Business screams that it's not fair for them to foot the bill. Yet Europe shows that when the cost is mandated across the field, it levels it. The result is a happier and healthier workforce, and more cohesive families. Which is what the social conservatives want, isn't it?

This contradiction points out just how far the social conservatives are well-used by corporate interests. In return for gobs of cash to push antediluvian social policies, they get thousands of earnest ground pounders who buy the "anti-everything" (except expensive tax breaks) line. It's a happy marriage, pun intended, which undermines adopting and implementing true pro-family policies.

It's so sad. I wonder what Jesus would say about expanded family leave? He'd probably think it's a good idea.