We got lots of responses to our item the other day about the dynamism of the U.S. economy. Only one or two of the 30 American companies that comprised the Dow Jones in 1976 are still on that list today. More of the high flyers of 50 years ago are out of business or were gobbled up by the industry sharks of today.
One of our Economic Policy Council members – Mark Skousen of Chapman University – asked ChatGPT to see what a European leader like France looks like on this dynamism scale.
Here is what ChatGPT came up with and we know that AI doesn’t always give the right answer, but we lightly edited what appears to be mostly accurate:
France’s largest companies have been remarkably stable over the past 50 years, especially compared with the United States.
Many of France’s industrial champions from the 1960s and 1970s are still among its largest corporations today.
Some examples:
|
Large French companies in the early 1970s |
Still major today? |
|
TotalEnergies |
Yes |
|
Saint-Gobain |
Yes |
|
Air Liquide |
Yes |
|
Renault |
Yes |
|
BNP Paribas (through predecessor banks) |
Yes |
|
Société Générale |
Yes |
|
Danone (through predecessor BSN) |
Yes |
|
L’Oréal |
Yes |
|
Schneider Electric |
Yes |
|
AXA |
Yes (grew later but roots are old) |
Today’s largest French companies are still dominated by long-established firms such as LVMH, L’Oréal, TotalEnergies, Schneider Electric, Air Liquide, BNP Paribas, Sanofi, AXA, Vinci, Saint-Gobain, Danone, and Orange.
The U.S. list from 1976 included companies like General Motors, Exxon, IBM, Kodak, Sears, and AT&T. Today’s largest firms are Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia, Amazon, Alphabet, and Meta – many of which did not exist or were tiny 50 years ago.
France’s list has changed much less. Even where companies have merged or renamed themselves, the underlying corporate institutions have persisted.
The list In France is not identical, but it is far more stable than in most other advanced economies.
Now you know why the French are considered “stodgy.”