Here’s what California has that France is missing: World-class entrepreneurs, like Sergey Brin, Larry Page, and Mark Zuckerberg.
California is home to the world's most innovative companies, including
| Company | Total Revenues |
| Apple | $227.54B |
| Alphabet | $77.99B |
| $19.77B |
Source: Finace.yahoo.com
To be fair, France is also an innovative country, occupying the 10th position in Bloomberg's Innovation Index, getting high marks in R&D intensity, high-tech density, and researcher concentration.
| Country | Innovation Rank | R&D Intensity | High-tech Density | Researcher Concentration | Economic Freedom Rank |
| US | 8 | 10 | 1 | 21 | 11 |
| France | 10 | 15 | 4 | 18 | 75 |
| Ireland | 15 | 24 | 25 | 24 | 8 |
| UK | 17 | 22 | 11 | 20 | 10 |
Source: Bloomberg; The Heritage Foundation
“With a 300-year history of mathematical genius that spans from pioneers such as René Descartes and Pierre de Fermat to recent Abel Prize-winner Mikhail Gromov, France is the second-most-awarded country for mathematical excellence after the U.S.,” said Gilles André, CTO and co-founder at CustomerMatrix.
The trouble is that progress in math and science alone isn’t a source of innovation and economic growth. Entrepreneurship is, provided that there’s the right social regime that affords mathematicians and other researchers the economic freedom to turn their ideas into products that win market approval.
And France has yet to develop a social regime that nurtures its own word class entrepreneurs.
This is evidenced by the country’s big lag behind the US in the Index of economic freedom ranking. Most notably, France must get rid of labor promises and guarantees, which raise the cost of pursuing new business opportunities.
But that isn’t easy, as demonstrated by the wave of labor unrest that ravaged the country in recent weeks.
| Country/State | Index of Economic Freedom Rank | Youth Unemployment Rate |
| France | 75 | 24.6 |
| US | 11 | 10.5 |
| California | -- | 18.00* |
*Age 16-24
Source: Tradingeconomics; US Labor Department
The paradox is that, while France tries to become more like California, California is trying to become more like France -- when it comes to labor promises and guarantees provided by Big Labor and Big State governments, that is.
Like the $15 minimum wage deal reached in the state recently, as discussed in a previous piece here.
