( CNN ) -- The taxi rocked to the pounding sounds of French rap music . My wife turned to our hostess . `` Can you ask him to turn it down ? '' The hostess waved her hands nervously . `` No , it will only offend him . '' She explained : The massive Paris taxi shortage had transformed the city 's cab drivers into so many motorized Soup Nazis : `` My cab , my music ; if you do n't like it -- walk . '' Back in 1937 , Paris capped the number of taxi permits at 14,000 . Now , 75 years later , a bigger and vastly richer Paris receives some 27 million tourist visits per year -- and the number of cabs has edged up less than 14 % , to 15,900 . Result : In wind and rain and baking sun , Parisians must stand in long lines at taxi stands for cabs that never come . In 2007 , the new government of Nicolas Sarkozy proposed to supplement the existing fleet . It would license 6,500 new cars in Paris , 23,500 in the rest of France . The proposal triggered a strike that shut down the city for a day -- and frightened Sarkozy into surrender . Five years later , it 's as difficult to find a cab in Paris as ever . ( Paris has about 2,000 more cab licenses than New York , which has a much bigger population , but New York has a vast fleet of cars for hire to supplement medallion cabs -- and except for the luxury market , car services are illegal in Paris . ) On the list of world problems , the difficulties of Paris taxi riders may seem to rank low . Think again . Almost 3 million French people are now out of work , the severest unemployment in 12 years . Millions more have quit the workforce altogether , subsisting on disability pensions or other social benefits . Prolonged mass unemployment in Europe has triggered a global debate about the euro currency , and rightly so . Yet it 's also true that every day , people in Europe are denied work by dumb laws that prevent willing customers from hiring them . Adding 30,000 new taxi licenses in France would mean more than 90,000 daily taxi shifts : In other words , upwards of 90,000 new jobs . And it 's not just taxis . France 's Raffarin law strictly regulates the creation of new retail premises . Anyone who wishes to create a new store in France of more than 300 square meters must first gain permission from a government commission that includes -- wait for it ! -- other existing retailers . In Germany likewise , the federal government until recently forbade stores to stay open past 10 p.m. ( In 2011 , the federal government transferred authority over hours to the states , some of which have chosen to allow longer openings . ) In almost every European country , restrictions on firing workers have made employers very reluctant about hiring in the first place . That hesitation -- plus heavy payroll taxes that raise hiring costs -- explain why so many European restaurants , cafes , and shops seem so lightly staffed compared to their American counterparts . These are not macroeconomic issues . They do n't involve central banks or currency policy . These are anti-competitive rules that prevent hiring that employers would want to do even in bad economic times . Fixing these rules requires some political courage , which is never in super-abundant supply . But courage is not the only thing needed . Imagination and ingenuity are even more important . Go back to our Parisian taxi drivers . Why are they so opposed to adding to the taxi fleet ? Interestingly , they 're not concerned about competition for fares : They know as well as anybody that the cab shortage is leaving money quite literally standing on the sidewalk . What concerns them , rather , is the value of their licenses . Paris drivers have paid nearly 200,000 euros for their licenses -- money they have usually borrowed and must work frantically to repay . Drivers regard their licenses as precious capital assets , which they hope to resell in turn . If the fleet increases , the value of those licenses would presumably drop . Sarkozy 's 2007 reform proposals called for giving away the 30,000 additional licenses for free . It said nothing about compensating the existing licensees . If drivers had been reassured on that point , they might have been mollified -- and if they still protested , overriding such protests would have been easier . France 's new president , Francois Hollande , has yet to take a stance on this . It 's not enough for Europe 's would-be reformers to summon their courage . They must also be shrewd -- and that 's no easy task in a crisis terrifying enough to cause almost anyone to lose his or her head . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of David Frum .
France is suffering from a world-famous taxi shortage , says David Frum . Despite attempts at reform , the number of taxis has increased less than 14 % since 12 years , he says . Europe 's economic crisis is embodied in France 's failure to fix this problem , cabs says . Frum : Europe 's anti-competitive rules that prevent hiring are an economic burden .