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© 2023 International Monetary Fund
SIP/2023/014
IMF Selected Issues Paper
European Department
Spending Efficiency and Reforms, France Prepared by Iulia Ruxandra Teodoru and Ruud Vermeulen
Authorized for distribution by Jeffrey R. Franks January 2023
IMF Selected Issues Papers are prepared by IMF staff as background documentation for periodic consultations with member countries. It is based on the information available at the time it was completed on January 10, 2023. This paper is also published separately as IMF Country Report No 23/010.
ABSTRACT: To rebuild fiscal buffers after large fiscal responses to successive shocks over 2020–22, France will need to reverse the trend spending increase observed over the last three decades through structural spending reforms. This paper identifies areas where scope for savings or efficiency gains exist based on an evaluation of the level and efficiency of public spending in France relative to European peers, using benchmarking analysis and stochastic frontier analysis to derive efficiency frontiers. Reforming social protection, health, education, and civil service, and rationalizing tax expenditures should preserve or improve outcomes while generating savings that would help meet medium-term adjustment needs.
RECOMMENDED CITATION: Teodoru, Iulia Ruxandra and Vermeulen, Ruud. Spending Efficiency and Reforms, France. IMF Selected Issues Paper (SIP/2023/014). Washington, D.C.: International Monetary Fund.
| JEL Classification Numbers: | E62, H51–53, H55, H70, H72, H75, H76 |
| Keywords: | Public Expenditure, Efficiency, Fiscal Consolidation, Fiscal Policy, France |
| Author’s E-Mail Address: | ITeodoru@imf.org; Rvermeulen@imf.org |
| JEL Classification Numbers: | E62, H51–53, H55, H70, H72, H75, H76 |
| Keywords: | Public Expenditure, Efficiency, Fiscal Consolidation, Fiscal Policy, France |
| Author’s E-Mail Address: | ITeodoru@imf.org; Rvermeulen@imf.org |
Title Page
SELECTED ISSUES PAPERS
Spending Efficiency and Reforms
France
Title Page
FRANCE
SELECTED ISSUES
January 10, 2023
Approved By
European Department
Prepared By Iulia Ruxandra Teodoru and Ruud Vermeulen
Contents
SPENDING EFFICIENCY AND REFORMS
A. Introduction
B. Social Protection
C. Health
D. Education
E. Public Administration
F. Tax Expenditures
G. Conclusions and Policy Recommendations
References
APPENDIX
I. Benchmarking Methodology and Results