Public and private transfers between generations. Ideological issues and perspectives (2): how to make French society less patrimonial.

Summary In this second part of the reflection begun in this issue on public and private transfers between generations in France, Luc Arrondel and André Masson look at ways to make French society less patrimonial. After a brief discussion of the reality of the intergenerational imbalance between today's seniors and their children, the authors analyze the elements that testify to the increasingly patrimonial character of French society: the growing share of transfers in national resources and the increased concentration of wealth in the hands of the elderly. They point out that for at least the last 30 years, French society has been placing more and more weight on wealth, inheritance and annuities, and that wealth inequalities are increasing between ages, but also, at a given age, between heirs and non-heirs, between owners and tenants, etc.