Thomas Piketty s Paris School of Economics, ki je zaznamoval leto 2014 z mega uspešno in vplivno knjigo Kapital v 21. stoletju (prodanih 1.5 milijona kopij!), je zavrnil državno odlikovanje Legije časti, ki naj bi mu jo podelila francoska vlada. S tem je izrazil svoj protest do Hollandove socialistične vlade, ker se ni dovolj potrudila za gospodarsko okrevanje v Franciji in Evropi (Business Insider):

France’s influential economist Thomas Piketty, author of “Capital in the 21st Century”, on Thursday refused to accept the country’s highest award, the Legion d’honneur, to criticise the Socialist government in power.

“I refuse this nomination because I do not think it is the government’s role to decide who is honourable,” Piketty told AFP.

“They would do better to concentrate on reviving (economic) growth in France and Europe,” added Piketty, who was once close to the Socialist Party but has distanced himself from the policies of President Francois Hollande.

Update:

In še komentar iz The Economista o razlogih Pikettyjeve zavrnitve odlikovanja:

Mr Piketty did not dwell on the reasons for his rejection of the award, other than to state that: “I am refusing this nomination because I do not think it is the government’s role to decide who is honourable.” But he has in the past voiced two broad criticisms of Mr Hollande, whose presidency he recently called a “disaster”.

First is Mr Hollande’s failure to press his case in the euro zone for less austerity and more pro-growth policies. During his election campaign, Mr Hollande promised to put an end to austerity in the currency area. In office, he then tried to rally a “club Med” group of Mediterranean euro-zone countries in an effort to force the hand of Germany’s chancellor, Angela Merkel. But it came to little, and Mr Hollande’s political weakness now is such that he has constantly been defeated by German intransigence.

Mr Piketty’s second criticism touches on Mr Hollande’s tax policy. For years the French economist has argued for a more progressive tax system, which would merge both income tax, currently paid by only half of French households, and the “contribution sociale généralisée”, a non-progressive social charge paid by all. This too was one of Mr Hollande’s campaign promises. Yet the president has shelved any plans to overhaul the tax structure, preferring instead simply to increase taxes on the middle-classes and the rich.

Vir: The Economist