France-Allemagne : une comparaison des effets de gamme dans l'industrie

?At the heart of the differences between Germany and France we find several large industrial sectors: car-making, other transport equipment, electronic equipment and capital goods, metallurgy, and to a lesser extent chemicals. ? In these sectors we find: significantly higher export price elasticity in France than in Germany, something that reflects a lower level of sophistication; a far stronger increase in labour productivity in Germany than in France. A far more positive trend in profit margins in Germany than in France; a link between the level of sophistication and consumption of sophisticated services (R&D, IT, training); far more rapid total factor productivity growth in Germany than in France, in all the sectors, in particular in the ?key? sectors for the difference between France and Germany. Capital intensity is increasing in nearly all sectors in France like in Germany. The difference between Germany and France, which explains the gaps in terms of level of sophistication of production, productivity gains and margins, therefore does not stem from the effort to accumulate capital, but from the quality of capital invested, as is shown by changes in total factor productivity and consumption of sophisticated services.