New Delhi, Oct. 21 -- As student protests sweep across France, it is easy to dismiss it as familiar if uniquely French stuff. But at the bottom of it is something that's increasingly common to governments all over: fiscal profligacy.

A redux of the Greek crisis of 2009-10 might seem distant, but as unrest spreads beyond French borders, it is time to examine if there are any lessons for us.

At the root of the problem is France's inability to get its fiscal house in order. On the face of it, the protests echo concerns of India's 'cockroach' stir over education: dilapidated classrooms, poorly run state schools, and so on.

But there the similarity ends.

Unlike in India, where years of lectures from multilateral institutions made economic ...