France: Are companies paying dividends at the expense of investment and wages?

There is an ongoing debate on dividends in France: are they too high? Are they detrimental for growth? We will examine the relationship between dividends, investment and wages for two definitions of French companies: All non-financial corporations for their operations in France (based on national accounts data) ; The CAC40 (based on globally consolidated company data). We see: For companies operating geographically in France, a decrease in dividends paid, an increase in wages and investment (as a percentage of GDP); borrowing that finances acquisitions and cash holdings ; For the CAC40, an increase in dividends paid due to lower interest paid on debt, while investment and wages remain stable (as a percentage of value added). So there is never any sign of an increase in dividends at the expense of investment and wages.