What saved France to some extent was that the depression fell mainly on capital expenditures and investment rather than consumption. But even in France, there was only so much deflation a democracy could take. Reflation was needed, but reflating on the gold standard was simply going to produce capital flight, especially if the monetary authority decided not to play ball. For reflation to work, you needed supportive policies by the Bank of France, which was exactly what the Bank of France was not about to supply.

Mark Blyth, Austerity, loc. 549