On Friday 19 November 2021, Droit & Croissance organised a conference on the rise of protectionism on the economy and the development of financial markets at the Reuters offices in Paris.
This theme was addressed through a series of round tables bringing together French and international specialists from various backgrounds working closely on these issues in the context of their academic and/or professional careers. Western capitalist economies were born out of a liberal philosophy that rejects, as a matter of principle, state intervention in the management of companies and financial operations. However, recent years have seen a resurgence of interventionism around the world, justified rightly or wrongly by the protection of national interests.
In France, by the end of 2020, the share of foreign investors in the capital of CAC 40 companies had fallen to 40%, its lowest level since 2002. This phenomenon, which seems to be attributable to the rise of strong protectionist policies in France, is symptomatic of the limits of state interventionism: to what extent do interventionist policies really favour national interests? What are their possible perverse effects?
The speakers were able to analyse the determinants of the rise of protectionism, the evolution of the power of controlling shareholders based in France, as well as the role of the State in M&A operations and in corporate governance.
The full transcript of the conference is available in the first edition of the Revue Trimestrielle de Droit Financier.
