Editing François Mitterrand (section)

====Economic policy====
The beginning of his first term was marked by a left-wing [[economic policy]] based on the [[110 Propositions for France]] and the 1972 Common Programme between the Socialist Party, the [[Communist Party (France)|Communist Party]] and the [[Left Radical Party]]. This included several nationalizations, a 10% increase in the ''[[salaire minimum interprofessionnel de croissance|SMIC]]'' (minimum wage), a 39-hour work week, 5 weeks holiday per year, the creation of the [[solidarity tax on wealth]], an increase in social benefits, and the extension of workers' rights to consultation and information about their employers (through the [[Jean Auroux|Auroux Act]]). The objective was to boost economic demand and thus economic activity ([[Keynesianism]]), but the stimulative fiscal policy implemented by the Mauroy government was in contradiction with the constrained [[monetary policy]] implemented by the [[Bank of France]].<ref>Reichart, Alexandre (2015). "[http://www.jeeh.it/articolo?urn=urn:abi:abi:RIV.JOU:2015;1.11 French Monetary Policy (1981–1985), A Constrained Policy, between Volcker Shock, the EMS and Macroeconomic Imbalances] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160629113231/http://www.jeeh.it/articolo?urn=urn:abi:abi:RIV.JOU:2015;1.11 |date=29 June 2016 }}". ''Journal of European Economic History''. ISSN 0391-5115, 44(1), pp. 11–46.</ref> However, unemployment continued to grow, and the [[French Franc|franc]] was devalued three times.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Lombard|first=Marc|date=April 1995|title=A re-examination of the reasons for the failure of Keynesian expansionary policies in France, 1981–1983|journal=Cambridge Journal of Economics|volume=19|issue=2|pages=359–372|doi=10.1093/oxfordjournals.cje.a035318}}</ref>

Old age pensions were raised by 300 francs per month to 1,700 francs for a single person and to 3,700 francs for a couple, while health insurance benefits were made more widely available to unemployed persons and part-time employees. Housing allocations for the low-paid were raised by 25% in 1981, and in the two years following May 1981 family allowances were increased by 44% for families with 3 children and by 81% for families with 2 children. In 1981, the purchasing power of social transfers went up by 4.5% and by 7.6% in 1982. In addition, the minimum wage (which affected 1.7&nbsp;million employees) was increased by 15% in real terms between May 1981 and December 1982.<ref>''Socialism, the State and Public Policy'' in France edited by Philip G. Cerny and Martin A. Schain</ref>

Major efforts were made to improve access to housing and health care, while the government also attempted to tackle working-class under-achievement in schools by reinforcing the comprehensive system, modernising the curriculum and reducing [[Streaming (education)|streaming]]. As a means of increasing political participation, the government increased the financial allowances of local politicians, who also became entitled to paid leave from their jobs to attend courses in public administration. Allowances for the handicapped were improved, while improvements were also made in the pay and conditions for those serving in the army. A decree of January 1982 provided for "solidarity contracts" whereby firms would be subsidised for introducing part-time work or early retirement if they also allowed the creation of new jobs, while a decree of March 1982 provided employees with the right to retire at the age of 60 on 50% of average earnings during their 10 best years of employment. In 1983, legislation was passed to encourage greater equality in the private sector. Firms now had to make an annual report on the training opportunities and employment conditions for women and present a statistical analysis of their position in the firm, whilst the works committee had to ensure that equality-promoting measures were taken.<ref name="ReferenceB">''Mitterrand's France'' Edited by Sonia Mazey and Michael Newman</ref> In addition, a new benefit was introduced for unemployed workers who had exhausted their eligibility for unemployment insurance.<ref name="Vail2009">{{cite book |title=Recasting Welfare Capitalism Economic Adjustment in Contemporary France and Germany |first=Mark I. |last=Vail |year=2009 |location=Philadelphia |publisher=Temple University Press |isbn=978-1-59213-967-5}}</ref> In December 1982, a law was passed that restored to workers the right to elect administrators to social security funds, which had been eliminated by Charles De Gaulle in 1967.<ref>''Contemporary France: Politics and Society Since 1945'' by D. L. Hanley, Miss A P Kerr, N. H. Waites</ref>

Mitterrand continued to promote the new technologies initiated by his predecessor Valéry Giscard d'Estaing: the [[TGV]] high-speed train and the [[Minitel]], a pre-World Wide Web interactive network similar to the web.<ref>{{Cite web |title=French bid "adieu" to Minitel, the France-Wide Web |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-france-minitel-idINBRE85S0HB20120629/ |website=Reuters}}</ref><!-- Blacklisted <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.whitepages.fr/telecom-history-minitel.html |title=History of the Minitel |publisher=Whitepages.fr |access-date=11 March 2013}}</ref> --> The Minitel and the [[LGV Sud-Est|Paris-Lyon TGV line]] were inaugurated only a few weeks after the election. In addition, Government grants and loans for capital investment for modernisation were significantly increased.<ref name="google">{{cite book|title=From State to Market?: The Transformation of French Business and Government|author=Schmidt, V.A.|date=1996|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-55553-1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C0kxrOXYMPQC|page=125|access-date=1 July 2015|archive-date=11 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160611055253/https://books.google.com/books?id=C0kxrOXYMPQC|url-status=live}}</ref>

François Mitterrand passed the first decentralization laws, the [[Gaston Defferre|Defferre Act]].

After two years in office, Mitterrand made a substantial u-turn in economic policies, with the March 1983 adoption of the so-called "tournant de la rigueur" (austerity turn). Priority was given to the struggle against inflation in order to remain competitive in the [[European Monetary System]]. Although there were two periods of mild economic reflation (first from 1984 to 1986 and again from 1988 to 1990), monetary and fiscal restraint was the essential policy orientation of François Mitterrand's presidency from 1983 onwards.<ref name="Smith1998">{{cite book|last=Smith|first=W. Rand|title=The Left's Dirty Job: The Politics of Industrial Restructuring in France and Spain|url=https://archive.org/details/leftsdirtyjobpol0000smit|url-access=registration|access-date=28 August 2014|year=1998|publisher=University of Pittsburgh Press|isbn=978-0-8229-7189-4|page=[https://archive.org/details/leftsdirtyjobpol0000smit/page/102 102]}}</ref> Nevertheless, compared to the OECD average, fiscal policy in France remained relatively expansionary during the course of the two François Mitterrand presidencies.<ref name="google6">{{cite book|title=Monetary Divergence: Domestic Policy Autonomy in the Post-Bretton Woods Era|author=Bearce, D.|date=2009|publisher=University of Michigan Press|isbn=978-0-472-02309-7|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=66kzw2jUQ4cC|page=107|access-date=7 December 2014|archive-date=17 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160617174511/https://books.google.com/books?id=66kzw2jUQ4cC|url-status=live}}</ref>