Why has universal suffrage not resulted in massive egalitarian redistribution? "Capital strikes" represent a major candidate explanation: large-scale redistribution would stifle incentives for private investment, undermining its own economic-political sustainability. Quantitative evidence on this mechanism, however, is scarce. This project will assess empirically the possible role of a 'capital strike' in contributing to the failure and reversal of the 1981-1983 French Socialist Experiment- a defining event in recent history. According to a widespread narrative, the French socialist experiment caused a crisis of business confidence which resulted in weak investment, contributing to an economic downturn that eventually forced the French socialists to abandon the experiment. In this project, I will use data on French firms to document the reaction of the French corporate sector to the socialist experiment, and test the hypothesis that its egalitarian policies caused a crisis of business.