Promouvoir la croissance en Europe : vérités et mystifications

According to the report for the European Commission, « An Agenda for a Growing Europe Making the EU Economic System Deliver », low growth in European countries and conflicts between growth, stabilization and cohesion are due to the inability to implement institutions adapted to an innovation based growth regime. Innovation and growth would require a mode of governance characterized by a greater flexibility of markets, and the emergence of independent policy agencies. This view may be challenged. Innovation cannot be assimilated to a specific technology. It is a process that results in co-ordination issues. Then, the required institutional framework does not imply necessarily more flexibility. It should be a blend of rules and discretion : rules aimed at avoiding too strong changes in behaviours, discretion in order to take advantage of the existence of trade-offs and limit the amplitude of bad times. JEL Codes : E2, E3, L16, O1, O3.