If high investment is the aim, then savings must be attracted into financing investment

We look at the case of France. In the aftermath of the COVID crisis, a number of observers are calling for: More investment, because the energy transition must be accelerated and capital growth has slowed considerably since the subprime crisis; Higher taxes on capital (a “climate” wealth tax, taxation of dividends, mandatory energy renovation of rental housing by landlords , which would cause returns on rental property to fall). The following mechanism then becomes very important: if more savings have to be channelled into financing investment, then the after-tax return on capital invested in companies and real estate must not be too low: there is no hope that more savings will be invested if returns on savings are too low, or investment financing would then have to be fully nationalised.