The French are far more attached to the idea of a centralised, big state than their Anglo-Saxon counterparts. The philosophy behind it, Colbertism, holds that the economy of France should serve the state and that the state should direct the economy.
But as France's big state looks less affordable, some French intellectuals are arguing that it is time that French identity became less tied to the dirigiste idea. Former BBC Paris Correspondent Emma Jane Kirby travels to France to meet those questioning their country's traditional resistance to economic reform.
Producer: Fiona Leach.