World-System (1960-2150) La French TECH Cycles

In a prior post (here) and in prior posts on the French Economy (here), I have found that the French Economy (or at least my model of it) is approaching a Steady State. My hypothesis is that the approaching steady state might (in addition to a lot of other forces) be creating Political Instability. However, no one knows the Future and we have to entertain other hypotheses.

The current 2025 Noble Prize in Economics offers another hypothesis. History teaches us that new technologies and Creative Destruction will eventually break steady states and send Economic Systems on to new Attractor Paths. The hypothesis is the essential argument of Kondratiev Wave Theory (here) and is embraced by World-Systems Theory. An alternative forecast for France is that the Steady State will not happen due to La French TECH.

The graphic above plots two historical forms of French Technology: Productivity (TECHP) and Efficiency (TECHE) (see the Notes below). Notice that they are both cyclical (echoes of Schumpeter's Creative Destruction model which is also cyclical but unstable). Notice also that TECHP (productivity) peaks before TECHE (efficiency): once a productivity peak is reached, focus turns toward efficiency until all gains are exhausted.

Unfortunately for France, both of these technological peaks (at least in my model which is estimated from World Development Data) are going to be reached in the near future: (1) reinforcing the steady state or (2) creating more instability and a search for new technologies to put the economy on another growth path. Since we do not know the Future, nothing is guaranteed.

For more on Stable French Technology Cycles see the post here. Schumpeter's Creative Destruction model predicts unstable Creative Destruction cycles and the French Technology Cycles are stable.
 

Notes

FR TECH Measurement Models

The two types of Technological Change  (TECHP and TECHE) are explained in a post on Technology in the United Kingdom which also is a good comparison to the French Model. Essentially, TECHP is productivity (output per capita)  and TECHE is efficiency (for example, CO2 emissions relative to energy consumption).