Star French
economist and author Thomas Piketty has turned down France's highest award in
protest at President Francois Hollande's policies. Piketty's "Capital in
the 21st Century" is a global best-seller.
Deutsche Welle, 1 Dec 2015
Piketty,
who was once close to France's Socialist Party, on Thursday rejected the
inclusion of his name among 691 nominees for France's prestigious Legion of
Honor.
Instead, he
told Hollande to "concentrate on reviving growth in France and
Europe," adding to his criticism of the president's backtracking on fiscal
reform promises.
Piketty had
previously called for a widespread reform of tax laws and not just Hollande's
2012 election vow to target the super rich.
France's
January 1 list of nominees for the prestigious award also includes Jean Tirole,
another economist who won the Nobel Prize in economics in October for his
theory that a "market needs a strong state to function normally."
Choice 'not
government's role
Piketty
told the French news agency AFP that he "refused this nomination because I
do not think it is the government's role to decide who is honorable."
"They
would do better to concentrate on reviving economic growth in France and
Europe," said Piketty referring to Hollande's Socialist government.
Last June,
he told the newspaper Le Monde: "There is a degree of improvization in
Francois Hollande's economic policy that is appalling."
France's
economy is stagnant, joblessness has mounted and its deficit has risen despite
repeated pledges to bring it within an EU-imposed threshold.
Growing
inequality
In his best
selling book, Piketty used 300 years of data, also compiled by co-researcher
Emmanuel Saez, to document a widening gap between rich and poor in a world of
growing inequality.
Worldwide,
1.5 million copies of "Capital in the 21st Century" have been sold.
The
English-language version caused a furor in the United States. New York Times
columnist Paul Krugman said it demolished the myth that "great wealth is
earned and deserved".
Its
recommendations were not accepted by all. In his home country France, Piketty's
work drew mixed reactions. In Germany, Piketty's work is currently ranked the
9th most popular factual book on the list compiled weekly by the magazine Der
Spiegel.
Backing for
his inequality verdict came in December in a report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The OECD told member nations that
reducing inequality, for example, by diverting more tax revenues into
education, would help to lift economic growth
France's
highest award
The Legion
of Honor is France's highest award for civilian and military service.
Also among
Thursday's list of 691 nominees is Patrick Modiano, the French winner of the
latest Nobel prize for literature.
Piketty is
not alone in turning down the award created by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1802.
Those who in the past refused the honor include French literary notables Albert
Camus, Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir as well as master artist Claude
Monet and celebrated anti-poverty campaigner Abbe Pierre.
ipj/rc (AFP, dpa, Reuters)
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