Business: The Professor's Gamble

France's economy in a race with the left

Like most European nations, France is in severe economic trouble. Price increases in 1977 are expected to average just under 10%; industry is stagnant; the number of jobless workers has jumped 23% in the past year, to a near record 1,159,000. What makes France different is that the economy is also in a race of sorts: how much it improves in the next few months—if it does at all—may determine whether a government that includes Communists comes to power as a result of the legislative elections that must be held by next March. True,...