The recession has put an end to this state of affairs

We walk through a dark period: public deficit soaring, waves of redundancies, social unrest growing (kidnappings, alerts the bomb). Economic crises are historically the phases where the suicide rate, inequalities and xenophobia are growing. It is crucial to protect those who are most vulnerable to shock.

That said, slowdowns are part of the natural tempo of the economy: it is important to realize that there are healthy and even brighter in the current crisis.

First, this recession, as all those which preceded it, the economy an opportunity of a purge that Schumpeter considered periodically necessary. During the phases of expansion, companies are created, they enlarge. Some are better than others but, as the General conditions are good, all survive. The disadvantage of this situation is that the less efficient companies mobilize capital and workers that would be better employed elsewhere. The recession has put an end to this state of affairs. An example of this type of purge is produced in the US automotive industry in the years 1929-1933: the recession in this sector has resulted in the disappearance of half of the least productive institutions, accelerating the dissemination of mass production.

This periodic purge logic also has a sense of the individual point of view. Economists know since the 1970s that people become accustomed very quickly to shocks, same important, on their living conditions. The tyranny of the habit is that economic euphoria is a temporary state of mind that we do not keep below always exceed our own material expectations, a bit like a junkie. Recently, two economists have suggested that, to avoid fatigue, it was preferable to alternate periods of rapid growth and brutal recession, result that echoes the existence of periodic fasting in many religious traditions. A long river in quiet growth essoufflerait economic well-being.

More deeply, the current crisis announces a long expansion phase, based on the transformation of our habits of consumption and production. The industrial cycle which began in the 1970s and currently ends had not really called into question the logic of mass production of the post-war years. Economically, the May 1968 movement, expressing the desire for a change of nature use, was unsuccessful: want to leave the dream of the 2 CV and the newspaper TV for all, been the Golf super-equipped or reality TV. The manufacturing industry has evolved to adapt to shorter cycles and to produce more custom, but the central objective of the production and consumption remained based on the glut and research of immediate comfort at the lower price. More and more economists is a link between the affluent society and the ills of modern society, such as obesity. Food entertainment, psychological gaps has operated for tube feeding consumers up to saturation of addictive products and "low cost". For several years, economists like Stiglitz point out that the GDP and growth disconnect of the evolution of the welfare and call otherwise measure the quality of life.

The nature of the expansion phase ahead is already noticeable in consumption trends: even pay more, we are looking for goods more authentic and quality; the consumer is interested more in the mode of manufacture of the products, interest that is more and more part of the experience of consumption. The border work-leisure is blurring, some individuals rediscovering the pleasure of produce at home. By forcing us to change our habits towards greater sobriety, the crisis accelerates the transition towards more traditional, high-tech production but tailor-made and authentic. Although that called by awareness of ecological and psychosocial issues, this transition will be not made quickly without the crisis.

The comparative advantage of the emerging countries, in this new mode of production, is less clear. China will remain the workshop of the world, but its production capacity will be reserved for goods on a large scale. Few give their chance its contractors to enter the trend, rather than rely on its multinationals, Europe, with its culture, its emphasis on the quality of life and its suréduquée work force is well placed to take the lead platoon of this cycle of growth. In this case, the period ahead is not a phase of decay, but a cycle of expansion, which reconnects the growth and well-being.