The Unassuming Economist

From the IMF’s latest report on France:

“Spending on housing is among the highest among European countries, with mixed outcomes for vulnerable groups (…). Similar to the UK, France spends 1.3 percent of GDP on housing development and housing benefits compared to 0.4 percent and 0.2 percent in Germany and Italy respectively. However, this is associated with mixed outcomes: while the overburden rate of poor households is among the lowest in France (16 percent compared to 37 percent in the UK), the number of rooms per person in poor households is lower in France than in the UK and in Germany, and houses of those at the lowest end of the income distribution in France are three times more overcrowded than in the UK.”