This book raises awareness of the « damage caused by the dogmatism of elected environmentalists who want to replace nuclear energy with renewable energy (RE) at all costs, at the expense of colossal financial expenditures » whereas France, decades ago, had the cheapest energy cost thanks to its nuclear fleet. It first highlights the fact that most environmentalists are committed to mobilizing for the «  anything but nuclear power » regardless of a rational ecological approach. To do so, they have « used fear », at the expense of a scientific rational proportion of low-carbon energy via the nuclear technology. It results in Germany relaunching polluting coal-fired power plants in 2022 (war in Ukraine), for compensating the effects of Angela Merkel’s 2011 decision to close nuclear power plants arguing for REs « allegedly creating jobs ». Illustrated by relevant figures, the author mentions that the subsidized REs destroy on average 2.2 “grey” jobs when creating one “green” job in the sector. The author emphasizes the « fearful demagogy of environmentalists », who have, for decades, pushed Europe towards an utopian energy future dominated by renewable energies. The consequences of this situation are the decline in competitiveness of European companies as well as companies relocating to the United States resulting ultimately in job losses. In  the second part of the book, the author analyses the question of the optimum energy mix for  the  the ecological, economic and societal transitions. As expected, he recognises that with (1) a relative lower cost of a nuclear power plant compared to a wind power equivalent, (2) the extension of existing ones thanks to safety know-how, (3) a necessity to comply with the objectives of the 2050 plan, nuclear power remains  unavoidable.  For the author, the future of our economic future will depend above all on a rational (energy at controlled cost) rather than an emotional (fear) attitude.  The ultimate goal of this book is to encourage politicians to take it up and make the right decisions. Pascal Wets (civil engineer) is a business consultant and former Professor at SUPELEC and at the post-graduate institute of the Technological University of Compiègne.  Note written by Claude GEORGELET

The universal best seller is structured into three parts, each of which focuses on a different aspect of the development of human networks. Part I: Human Networks’’. This section traces the historical origins of information networks, focusing on how primitive forms of communication, such as storytelling and myths, enabled large-scale human cooperation. Harari argues that myths are central to the evolution of human societies, allowing individuals who do not personally know one another to cooperate under shared beliefs and symbols. Chapter 1: What Is Information?’’: Harari begins by tackling the broad concept of information, explaining that information is the fundamental building block of both human societies and the natural world. He moves beyond traditional definitions, arguing that information is more than just human-made symbols or language—it encompasses everything from DNA to the movements of celestial bodies. Harari introduces the idea that information has always existed in nature, but what differentiates humans is how they have learned to store, process, and disseminate it through complex networks. He also introduces a philosophical dimension by engaging with the difficulty of defining information in fields like physics and biology. Rather than offering a universal definition, Harari focuses on the historical role of information as a tool for building networks of cooperation. One of his key arguments is that humans have historically relied on a combination of accurate information and fictions (such as myths and religions) to create large, cohesive societies. Chapter 2: Stories: Unlimited Connections’’: In this chapter, Harari dives into one of his key themes: the power of stories in shaping human societies. He explains that stories—myths, legends, and religious narratives—have acted as vital tools in creating social cohesion. Harari argues that these stories are not necessarily based on factual accuracy, but they are crucial in binding large groups of humans together under a shared belief system. For instance, the belief in divine figures or the legitimacy of kingship allowed early societies to mobilize resources, organize armies, and maintain social order. Stories, as Harari explains, were the first large-scale information networks, allowing humans to transcend the limitations of small, tribal groups and build empires and civilizations. Chapter 3: Documents: The Bite of the Paper Tigers’’: This chapter focuses on the role of written documents in human history, particularly as a tool for bureaucracy and governance. Harari argues that while stories create the emotional and ideological glue for societies, documents create the logistical framework that allows complex societies to function. He explores how early civilizations—such as Mesopotamia and Egypt—used writing not for poetry or history but for recording taxes, land ownership, and laws. The shift from oral to written culture marked a significant evolution in how societies managed information. Harari emphasizes that documents allowed for more accurate and long-term storage of information, making large bureaucracies possible. He also discusses the idea of “paper tigers”—bureaucratic systems that, while theoretically powerful, often collapse when they cannot adapt to new realities. In the 4th chapter « Errors: The Fantasy of Infallibility », Harari addresses one of the central issues with information networks: their tendency to fail due to errors, miscommunication, or the spread of misinformation. He argues that while humans rely on information networks to create order, these networks are often built on flawed assumptions or outright lies. Harari uses historical examples like the Catholic Church’s dogmas and the ideological extremes of Nazism and Stalinism to illustrate how powerful networks can spread erroneous or delusional information.One of the key themes here is that humans often overestimate the reliability of their information networks. Harari suggests that the fantasy of infallibility—whether in religious dogma, scientific knowledge, or political ideology—often leads to disastrous consequences when reality contradicts these beliefs. He also examines the role of self-correcting mechanisms, such as scientific peer review and independent courts, which help prevent the spread of misinformation in modern societies. Chapter 5: Decisions: A Brief History of Democracy and Totalitarianism’’ Here, Harari explores the evolution of political systems through the lens of information networks. He contrasts democratic and totalitarian systems, emphasizing that each represents a different approach to handling information. Democracies, according to Harari, rely on a decentralized information network, where ideas and opinions flow freely, allowing citizens to make informed decisions. Totalitarian regimes, on the other hand, seek to control and centralize information, often resorting to propaganda and censorship. Harari delves into the history of political systems, showing how democracy evolved as a response to the complexity of large societies, which required more sophisticated and distributed information networks. Totalitarian systems, while initially powerful, often collapse due to the inability to process and respond to complex information accurately. ‘‘Chapter 6: The New Members’’: In this chapter, Harari transitions to the modern era by exploring how computers and artificial intelligence differ from previous information technologies like the printing press. He argues that while previous technologies were tools for amplifying human capabilities, AI represents something entirely different. AI can process information independently, make decisions, and even create new forms of knowledge without human intervention. Harari emphasizes that this shift has profound implications for human society. AI is not just an extension of human intelligence but a new kind of intelligence that operates on fundamentally different principles. This new “member” in the information network is reshaping everything from economics to warfare. Chapter 7: Relentless: The Network Is Always On’’: In this chapter, Harari explores the relentless nature of modern information networks, particularly in the digital age. Unlike earlier networks, which operated at the speed of human communication, today’s networks are always active, processing data 24/7. Harari examines the psychological and social consequences of this shift, arguing that humans are biologically unprepared for the constant flow of information. He also touches on the issue of information overload, where individuals are bombarded with so much data that they struggle to make sense of it. This, Harari argues, leads to a paradox: despite having access to more information than ever before, people may become more misinformed or disconnected from reality. Chapter 8: Fallible: The Network Is Often Wrong’’: Building on the previous chapter,

Christian de Boissieu’s latest book, written with Marc Schwartz, is a timely response to the questions that enlightened citizens are asking about the so-called “unconventional” strategies that have been adopted by central banks in the face of the 2007-2010 financial crisis, the 2020-2021 pandemic, and the Ukrainian and Israeli-Palestinian wars since 2022. These events have revealed the multiple economic, socio-political and institutional dimensions of money. As is well known, money is an instrument of measurement, transaction and reserve, but it is also a common good and a coveted factor of sovereignty and power. The authors acknowledge the innovative and generally appropriate nature of the measures taken by central banks, but they deplore the lack of coordination on monetary matters between states, central banks and international financial institutions.  The authors also analyze the reasons behind the resistance of cash to digital currencies, attributing it in particular to socio-cultural biases. They question the monetary or speculative nature of crypto-assets and the possible causes and effects of the adoption of central bank digital currencies. They question the current movement of de-dollarization of world trade and explore its possible long-term scenarios. They try to anticipate the outcome of the emerging war between public and private currencies.  Finally, they endeavor to quantify and instrumentalize the financial effort to be made to ensure the energy and environmental transition. The book attests to the authors’ great mastery of one of the most complex and fundamental current economic issues. They draw their sources from their experiences and from the best scientific work on monetary economics. Christian de Boissieu is Professor Emeritus at the University of Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne and Marc Schwartz is CEO of the Monnaie de Paris. note by J-J.Pluchart

  “The key to making your business successful in an ultra-competitive world has a name: strategy.”  This publication is above all proof of this, with the testimony of an eminent CEO.  It is also the story of Xavier Fontanet’s exceptional career. He is the iconic leader of the ESSILOR group, which he brought, under his leadership, to 5 billionS €  in turnover while increasing its market value a hundredfold. His interviewer, Pierre Pupier, himself an entrepreneur-investor and a leading figure in private equity, reveals each stage of Xavier’s professional life, which are all examples of “strategy” that “applies in the field in real situations and allows you to master changing and complex situations, or at least to adapt to them. The strategic concepts used and presented in this book “remain universal and apply equally to SMEs and mid-caps as to large companies… “  The major issues reviewed by the authors – profitability, growth, team motivation, etc. – will be of interest not only to business leaders, but also to economics students and executives looking for inspiration and a model of success in and through business.   By closing this book, the reader will undoubtedly have understood that strategy can also be an exciting game and that choosing to become an entrepreneur, despite the many negative connotations that are too often attributed to these central figures of the economy and the risks that accompany them, can ultimately prove to be a “very happy” experience.    This is what emerges from this “true novel” of the life of Xavier Fontanet, a great business leader, who continues to have fun by becoming a publisher, creating the game “STRATHENA” which allows the user to put himself in the shoes of a company’s CEO facing his competitors, which remains a good way to test and develop his knowledge of strategy.  Education, Xavier Fontanet’s other great battle, “should start at the school level… as early as the fifth grade”  Xavier Fontanet: CEO of Essilor for nearly 20 years. Director of major groups.  Pierre PUPIER: 15 years of private equity, founder of several companies. Note by Jean Louis Chambon

This collective work brings together 18 historians and economists who compare the respective methodologies of their disciplines and question the ways in which they can be reconciled. They illustrate their reflections through the cross-analysis of three different fields of research: colonialism, the creation of academic knowledge, and women’s work. The first part of the book focuses on the main biases that distort the sources – namely the stories for the historians and the figures and date for the economists – of their research. The second part covers the logic of processing these sources, and in particular, certain contradictions in the “chains of causality” that make it possible to explain the phenomena. The third part is devoted to the methods of results restitution of these treatments. The authors show the flaws in the narratives, especially analytical ones, that make it possible to explain and discuss the results of the research. They discuss the positive but also negative contributions of the use of Artificial Intelligence in research and expertise practices. In particular, they argue that the “structural thinking” of historians and economists can be distorted by changes in the way phenomena are approached throughout history: data focused on prices and incomes until the mid-nineteenth century, then measured volumes and capital until the end of the twentieth century, before focusing on the behavior of the actors-subjects of society and the economy. In economics, these three stages correspond to the succession of political economy, macroeconomics and narrative economy, and in history, to the movement from the “big history” to the “new history” and then to the historial economics. The authors point out that in economics, the most recent Nobel Prize winners have been historians of economics. Alain Trannoy and Arundhati Virmani are members of the EHESS. Note by Jean-Jacques Pluchart

 The theme of the “Currency War” remains a great classic that has been the subject of abundant literature, stimulating for economists and invigorating for generations of students. But the “New Currency War » that is looming, in the wake of the upheavals linked to digital technologies, promises to introduce new challenges, without being able to erase the fundamentals, in terms of status of common good, sovereignty and the purpose of improving each competitive position.  This is indeed the thesis developed by this duo of authors whose expertise is well established – Christian de Boissieu and Marc Schwartz – in this brilliant publication, displaying a conviction that “the “New” Currency War »will oppose, in the digital sphere, public currencies and private currencies”.                                                                                                                                                        Also, one of the great merits of this very well-documented work is that it offers a broad panorama of reflection on each component of this issue: the relations between currency, power, and sovereignty, extended to the political and social dimension of currency; the evolution of the power of Central Banks; the future of cash in the face of digital currency; the unduly consecrated active cryptos, as the authors also wonder about the future of the official digital currencies of Central Banks, versus the public-private currency war; reserve currencies and the illusion of “de-dollarization”; the financial aspects of the energy transition; and the implied  financing conflicts.  Finally, the authors attach great importance to the need to develop a “qualitative theory” complementing the various quantitative approaches: the major facets of money – stability, liquidity, backing by developed financial markets, political and social role, international influence, available quantity – must also take into account the duty of competitiveness of the currency which is not reduced to its exchange rate but “can face the competition of other currencies and embody a country or an economic zone”.                                                                                                                                                                 A reference publication, valuable for specialists and essential for students and a wide audience looking for meaning in the evolution of monetary policies.                                                                                                                                                                                     Christian de BOISSIEU: Professor Emeritus of Paris1 Panthéon Sorbonne – Vice President of the Cercle des Economistes.   Marc SCHWARTZ: CEO of La Monnaie de Paris. Jean- louis   CHAMBON’ s note                                                          

Like most Western countries, and despite having one of the highest fertility rates in Europe, France is not immune to the aging of its population. In his essay, Maxime Sbaihi analyses the consequences of this ageing on the economy and on our social model. Since the end of World War II, our social model has been based on intergenerational solidarity, which is sensitive to demography, the engine of its financing. The conclusion is clear today: the working population must finance, through pay-as-you-go, a record number of retirees who are spending an incresaing  time in retirement. The beneficiaries of the pension system are now on average richer than its contributors. Our pension system is theoretically based on 3 levers: working longer, lowering the level of pensions and increasing contributions. It is understandable that politicians have often struggled to find the best combination without altering the social model. Social needs are increasing, but it is difficult to raise the contributions when the workforce represents 50% of the total population. (The number of active persons in relation to the number of inactive ones aged 60 or over was 1.9 in 2020 but is projected to be 1.6 in 2040 and 1.4 in 2070, source INSEE) The author then focuses on the impoverishment of young people, an increasingly worrying situtation: “the poor of yesterday were retirees at the end of their lives, the poor of today are young people facing the future”. He believes that intergenerational equity is no longer guaranteed. Income gaps are widening in the face of a “patrimonialization” of society. He specifies that the real estate and financial assets of the sexagenarians  (and older) are the highest of all the other age groups. He points out the fact that this overabundant savings has little impact on the financing of the economy since it is mainly oriented towards low-risk and liquid investments. Thanks to a longer life expectancy, today’s retirees postpone the transmission of their wealth. On the political side, the author paints a picture that may once again prove to be divisive: –        Young people abstain the most at each election, are often poorly registered on electoral lists, tend to become radicalized and rather prefer a citizenship of commitment, especially on ecology –        Those over 50 are the most mobilized, compose the absolute majority of the electoral college, are often seduced by centrism and prefer a citizenship of duty Democracy tends to slide towards gerontocracy since politicians tend to give priority to older voters in the face of a youth who shun the polls. The author proposes rather liberal solutions to limit this intergenerational injustice: the establishment of an universal income, modification of inheritance and estate taxation, a new status mixing permanent and fixed-term contracts, and intragenerational solidarity. The essay is well documented, with numerous bibliographical references, and is written in a very accessible style. The subject is topical and is at the heart of political debates in the context of public debt management.  Maxime SBAIHI is an economist and essayist. After starting his career in the banking sector in Paris, then at Bloomberg in London, he was a  Director of Studies at the Institut Montaigne and is now the Strategy Director of Club Landoy. Note by Sophie Friot

This “citizen’s economic primer” is a second edition [1] with an additional chapter devoted to inflation. In the first part of the book, the authors argue, as opposed to the popular belief, that debt is not a burden for the future generations since the current generation already benefits from it through investments in infrastructure and public services. They also promote the idea that, in times of crisis, one should not tighten the belt, since an increase in public spending will lead to a greater increase in activity through the effect of the fiscal multiplier: the ratio between the rate change in GDP and the rate of public spending. Public deficits are thus necessary to achieve full employment or to finance collectively useful investments, but they are harmful in times of full employment where they have an inflationary potential. This ideology goes against neoliberal politics, which argues that it is by producing more wealth that we can finance the social model, by working more (unemployment insurance reform) and longer (pension reform). The second part is dedicated to the trajectory of the French debt in order to understand its evolution since 1945, and more precisely, the dependence on financial markets observed since the 1980s. Some economists believe that the increase of debt contributes to raising interest rates, which discourages private investment.  This raises the question of the public debt sustainability . The authors believe that a State’s reimbursement ability is linked to the strength and reliability of its tax system, as well as to the possibility of borrowing from banks and financial markets. They believe that the French public debt is sustainable, especially since more than 50% of French debt holders are not French resident. This level proves the attractiveness of the French public debt on a global scale. Finally, the third part is a presentation of the solutions and manoeuvers to make public debt acceptable to all. Since the COVID crisis and the return of inflation, the ECB has increased its key rates 10 times (between July 2022 and September 2023) aiming reduce inflation at the cost of an economic slowdown and a rising unemployment, thus limiting the ability of the states to collect tax revenues. As a remedy, the authors recommend a comprehensive tax reform, focusing on three major areas: 1-     Restoring the progressivity of income tax 2-     Implementing an effective fight against tax evasion 3-     Focusing on a better consideration of ecology, with the evocation of a Green New Deal In conclusion,  this book calls to get out of catastrophism, since public debt can be part of the solution and not the problem. They go against the grain of the policies applied for decades by successive governments and confront current political debates in the midst of the 2025 budget vote and the issue of financing the energy transition. The concepts are rather pedagogically approached and accompanied by technical sheets allowing each reader to understand all the contours of public debt and thus form their own opinion.  Éric Berr (University of Bordeaux), Léo Charles (University of Rennes 2), Arthur Jatteau (University of Lille), Jonathan Marie (Sorbonne Paris North University) and Alban Pellegris (University of Rennes 2) are members of the Économistes Atterrés. Sophie Friot’s note

The book presents the research work of  two Nobel Prize winners in Economics awarded in 2024. It takes the form of a monumental review of scientific literature on the factors, forms, and combined effects of technological innovation and institutional change throughout the ages. It focuses in particular on the interactions between the digital revolution and the globalization of the markets since the 1980s. The book begins with a discussion around the notions of progress, which is at the same time technical, institutional, as well as ideological.  It continues with a review of the debates on the mechanization of agriculture and then of industrial processes, leading to several waves of “technological unemployment”. The two authors compare in particular the sometimes contradictory positions adopted by the greatest economists on these phenomena, which resulted in a concentration of wealth and a widening of inequalities between labor and capital. They show in particular that these technological and socio-economic changes have been favored by institutions and ideologies, first Keynesian and then neo-liberal, which have been increasingly adapted to social groups the power of which is based more on capital than on labor. They analyze in particular the decline of unions and political parties influence in the fight against social inequalities. The two Nobel Prize winners also observe that AI, especially in its generative form, generates low productivity gains, but stimulates creativity in all its forms and develops human relationships, which are both sources of economic growth and social well-being. They argue that humanity should seek to improve the usefulness of machines rather than perceive only their dangers. They deplore in particular the use of AI to misinform and manipulate opinion.  They denounce the current trend of considering AI as being at the service of a society of surveillance and control of citizens in the name of an ideology. They compare the ethical frameworks established by different countries and propose a new form of global AI governance  promoting both technological innovation and the common good. One of the main interests of the book is therefore to present in a didactic form the main Anglo-Saxon research devoted to the evolution of the relationship between technical progress and the institutions of Western countries, but also to contribute to the current thought leadership on the supervision of AI. Daron Acimoglu and Simon Johnson are professors at the MIT and co-winners of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Economics. Note by J-J.Pluchart

This book seems surreal, but it is not unrealistic. Doesn’t its subject matter cover an ultimate dream? That of an absolute freedom of action, without conditions or pressure, of an education centered on creativity and imagination stimulated on all types of screens (television, platforms, apps, etc.), of a development of projects illustrating the most unusual passions without great competition, of fortunes exceeding the GDP of several Western countries thanks to tax optimizations in all legality, of a power defying the States, of a disruptive model of a new world at the antipodes of the current world order. In a concise and lively style, Christine Kerdellant engages in an audit of the futuristic visions of a handful of influencers who are both billionaires and Americans. Their actions could undermine the very foundations of capitalism. Their common denominator: their vision as a vector of social change with an extra-planetary scope. Opportunities for humanity or threats to democracy? Their power does not only come from the immensity of their fortune, but for some, from their high-tech activities in a monopolistic situation, and for others, from their dissemination of sensitive data to a fraction of humanity. For the author, this poses a problem of ethics and responsibility of the States. In her book, she arouses the reader’s curiosity in order to warn about the absence of limits and controls of these projects, resulting in a takeover of more than a third of satellites impacting military strategies, the deployment of implants on humans in a medical setting, the exploitation of billions of data for political purposes… These science fiction-passionate dreamers are not far from supplanting the State which, in their opinion, is content to tax them excessively. Is state control pure fiction? Is the Chinese pattern, where the state takes control of the activities of billionaires, more appropriate? Could the European model, where the state regulates by heavily taxing large fortunes, be an alternative? Doesn’t American capitalism, which includes the notion of economic freedom, reflect the American dream that offers the opportunity to prosper in complete freedom? Ideally, in all types of models, there should be safeguards (“wise men”). With a governmental support, the “billionaires stronger than the states” therefore continue to live their American dream. Christine KERDELLANT is an essayist and economic journalist. She studied economics at the University of Caen and joined HEC.  Alongside her career as a journalist, she has written more than fifteen essays and novels. Chronicle by Pona SAMNIK