An affair of state

FANS of the mixed economy would do well to read the weighty report on Crédit Lyonnais issued by a French parliamentary commission on July 12th. Though the tome sheds no new light on the reasons for the downfall of the state-owned bank, which had to be bailed out earlier this year after losing FFr6.9 billion ($1.2 billion) in 1993, it is a damning summary of a system in which “connivance” between Crédit Lyonnais's management and its state owner brought the bank to its knees. Unfortunately, the commission's limited scope of inquiry means that at least one crucial question about the financial debacle remains unanswered.