"Work expands to fill the time available for its completion." Thus Cyril Northcote Parkinson, who first penned the dictum (in The Economist) in the 1950s, after his experience in Britain's bureaucracy. Parkinson was more historian than economist, but his first law of work has struck more of a chord with office drones than any formal economic theory. What would he think of a main plank of the outgoing French socialist government's economic policy: its 35-hour work-week? France's 35-hour law came into effect two years ago, imposing some of the shortest working hours in the world. It requires French companies to pay 39 hours' worth of wages for 35 hours of work. France's workers might now be the envy of the world. Does the French model, though, make for good economics? The answer is no-but it comes with a silver lining.
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