Sur la comparaison internationale des « dépenses publiques » (notre comptabilité nationale induit-elle en erreur ?)

One of the most disputed questions among economists is that of "the role" and "size" that the public sector should have in a rich and developed country like France. The importance of this question is understandable, because the history of nations is filled with examples of a sector (or a branch) of the economy becoming too large, or remaining too small, hampering growth or making the economy more vulnerable. A recent case is that of the "Financial Corporations Sector", which doubled in size in several countries during the two decades leading up to the 2008 economic collapse [1]. It is therefore legitimate to ask whether this is not also the case, in France, with "General Government" or "the Public Sector". We explain why the argument most often used by those who hold this opinion (that the ratio "public expenditure/GDP" is a good measure of the size of the public sector and that in France it is too high) is not a serious one.