Give 'm the ooh-la-la

If Napoleon at Waterloo-la-la
Had an army of debutantes
To give the British the well known, ooh-la-la
He would have changed the history of France

The new cool kids on the economics scene may be French, but they had to speak English to arrive;

When the IMF recently listed the world’s 25 best young economists, seven (including Mr Piketty) were French.

What explains this resurgence? One answer is the rivalry of two institutions that have tried to defy the fragmented and divided world of French higher education: the Toulouse School of Economics (TSE) and the Paris School of Economics (PSE). Each has rebranded itself with an English name, created a private fund-raising foundation, recruited worldwide, and introduced English as the teaching language.

And not play par les règles du jeu;

More than anything, TSE and PSE show how to get around rules. French higher education divides universities (non-selective) from grandes écoles (highly competitive); encourages uniformity (university lecturers are civil servants); and forbids university tuition fees. “The French system is crippled by rigidities,” notes Pierre-Yves Geoffard, PSE’s director. “But these prompt new ideas, as a way of working around the system.”

Maybe Jonathan Gruber can be a guest lecturer;