Social protection: Mathieu Lefebvre interviewed by Le Progrès

Protection sociale : « Par rapport à d’autres pays, le système français est plutôt performant » (Social protection: ‘Compared to other countries, the French system is quite effective’), interview with Mathieu Lefebvre published on 21 December 2025 by Le Progrès.

Mathieu Lefebvre, professor of economics at the University of Strasbourg and author of L’État-providence: défense et illustration (‘The welfare state: defence and illustration’, Presses universitaires de France, 2017), co-written with Belgian economist Pierre Pestiau, offers an analysis of the French social protection system. He explains why, despite its high cost, this system remains effective compared to other countries, while highlighting its limitations and the challenges ahead: financing, simplification and care for dependent persons.