As it does every year, the Institut des Politiques Publiques has published an assessment of the distributive consequences of the government’s economic and social policies. Macron haters will be disappointed to find that this study confirms the results of previous studies: Macron’s policies since 2017 have increased the after-tax disposable income of the French by an average of 1.6%. And the gains are broadly distributed: all groups from the 6th to the 99th percentile benefit. It’s true that the poorest have retrogressed slightly and that the richest—the top 1 percent—have benefited disproportionately, almost entirely because of the suppression of the ISF. But on the whole this is a result that a social-democratic government (which Macron’s certainly is not) would not have to be ashamed of. Although one would need to look more carefully at the reasons for distress at the bottom of the distribution.
So, does Macron deserve the epithet “president of the rich,” which he has not been able to shake? Yes and no: the very rich have indeed been indulged, but others have also gained. And the gains are focused on certain groups at the expense of others, namely, people with jobs and savings: “« Les mesures économiques et sociales d’Emmanuel Macron ont favorisé plus fortement les actifs et les détenteurs de patrimoine », résume Antoine Bozio, le directeur de l’IPP.” For further details, see the graphs and analyses at the link.
Photo Credit: Jacques Paquier (CC BY 2.0), via Wikimedia Commons.