The French government has to pay an interest rate of almost 5% to borrow for a 10-year term, more than Italy or Greece. The difference with what Germany pays, the risk premium, has climbed to 1.5 percentage points, more than double that in the case of Spain. Some investors fear that the situation could spiral out of control. How did we get here? Is the fear of a French debt crisis realistic? Could it drag down other countries in the euro zone like in 2012?

Artificial intelligence promises to revolutionize productivity, work, and, possibly, our way of life. A few days ago, in these pages, Andreu Mas-Colell reflected on the future of work and Cal Newport wondered if we will end up going extinct. These are not minor debates.

Let's think about what is needed for an economy to produce goods and services. At the center are the people who work, individually or organized in large or small companies. We all use tools, machinery, and infrastructure. We depend heavily on others, our suppliers: we are not Robinson Crusoe doing everything alone. Finally, there are the different levels of government, which set the rules of the game, enforce them, and directly manage a significant part of the economy's resources (almost half of what we produce).

One of the words economists use most is “it depends.” Perhaps we like to sound interesting or to split hairs, but mostly it’s because reality is complex and the questions we ask are difficult to answer with a simple yes or no. This is what I believe is happening with the question in the title: it depends on how we look at it.