From Brexit to the Yellow Vests Movement in France

Cristina Peicuti ()
Additional contact information
Cristina Peicuti: ESCP Business School

Chapter 13 in A Monetary and Economic History of France since 1944, 2026, pp 175-182 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract In the wake of the subprime crisis, the political risk was kept in check in the short term, but the impoverishment that resulted from this crisis would propel this risk on high over the medium term. Brexit is the first major victory of populism fueled by rising inequality in Europe post-war. Emmanuel Macron started his presidency by abolishing the solidarity wealth tax and by introducing a 30% flat-rate tax on capital income, which covered both income tax and social security contributions. These first measures are perceived by the French population as the new government prioritizing the rich. The same fiscal law increased the taxation of households. First, there was a 1.7% increase in the generalized social contribution. Second, there was an increase in fuel taxes, particularly on diesel, when previous governments had encouraged purchases of diesel cars by offering tax incentives. This measure crystallized the discontent of those who would later become the Yellow Vests. The Yellow Vests Movement erupted on November 17, 2018, when 300 thousand protesters clad in high-visibility safety vests occupied roundabouts. The total cost of the measures announced by Emmanuel Macron in response to the Yellow Vests movement amounted to €17 billion.

Date: 2026
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:conchp:978-3-032-17596-0_13

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/9783032175960

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-032-17596-0_13

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Contributions to Economics from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().