Chronic. The question of heritage has come back in force in the presidential debates. The rights compete with proposals for a “France of owners”, in the words of Valérie Pécresse. One of the most specific is Eric Zemmour, who proposes an abolition of so-called “notary” fees – which represent 7% to 8% of the amount of a property – for young buyers of a principal residence.
In terms of political economy, the “all owners” makes it possible to circumvent the debates on a taxation of inheritances and, more generally, of heritage: on the one hand, access to all to heritage would settle the question of the distribution unequal heritage; on the other hand, the more owners there are, the more opponents there will be to any form of taxation of property, and the more great fortunes will be preserved… Finally, if everyone has the assurance of having a , it is possible to reduce the capital of all represented by social protection, in particular pension systems.
But the adhesion of the conservative French right to this principle is not limited to this political dimension. They remained convinced of the benefits of ownership, particularly under the influence of the work of Frédéric Le Play (1806-1882). This engineer, inventor of the concept of “root family” – seen by some as a precursor, even founder, of French sociology – writes: “the more I study the social problem, the more I assure myself that the first degree of well-being does not consist in extending physical satisfactions, but in creating the moral enjoyments that property gives” (Social reform in France: deduced from the comparative observation of European peoples, 1864). Access to property strengthens the family unit. It transforms the individual into a full member of a local community, which gets involved in associations, the Church or public affairs. The long-term value of the family property depends on the positive externalities of a pleasant neighborhood, parents and children have an interest in maintaining their property, but also in respecting the property of others, thus avoiding any form of delinquency.
Essential Barrier
Quantitative work in the social sciences, however, struggles to demonstrate the benefits. The theoretical dangers for the functioning of the economy are also difficult to confirm: the more mobile productive capital is, the more the inertia induced by ownership would be individually and collectively costly. Because, by fixing the workers in their housing, the property would reduce the mobility of the workforce, would increase the risks of unemployment and the loss of competitiveness of the territories lacking in labour.
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