these deputies uncomfortable with the economy

Difficult to accuse him of populism. However, the Frenchman Philippe Aghion, Nobel Prize in Economics 2025, does not mince his words: “I was appalled by the intellectual and economic level of certain deputies. Some people understand absolutely nothing about economics (…) and do not do their job seriously. Others do it…” he testified on France Info, November 3, 2025. This professor at the Collège de France shared, not without candor, his amazement following his hearing by the Economic Affairs Committee of the National Assembly.

Are our MPs bad at economics? The lively debates around the 2026 budget, underway in the National Assembly, are legitimate: they reflect societal as well as ideological choices. But, alongside elected officials experienced in public finances, hearing certain voices, we can wonder if everyone has mastered the functioning of businesses or even the market.

At the National Rally, MP Jean-Philippe Tanguy proposes an overtaxation of “surplus dividends”, citing the example of Total which would maintain an “artificial” dividend, because it is constant, while its results fluctuate. A reasoning which ignores the interest for the oil group in retaining its shareholders by smoothing the return to the investor over several years.

For the quality of the debates

On the left, Olivier Faure (PS) defends the Zucman tax, arguing that this 2% tax on the ultra-rich would not apply to “dormant assets”, but to “money which brings in between 7 and 12%”. An a priori rational proposition but which does not take into account the fact that if taxation is fixed, the evolution of income is by nature unpredictable.

Asked about the case of Mistral AI, to find out how the boss of the start-up, valued at 14 billion euros but which still makes no money, could, without income, pay such a tax, even the president of the finance committee, Éric Coquerel (LFI), seemed to confuse market capitalization (stock market value), results and assets…

The current polarization of groups in the National Assembly does not explain everything. Nor the difficulty, for many elected officials, in translating political convictions into solid proposals. However, the quality of democratic debate also depends on the economic understanding of those who carry it out. A crucial issue, all the more so in these times of budgetary emergency.