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“It's a fringe idea. No serious economist backs a wealth tax.”

Eight winners of the economics Nobel have signed their names to a tax on the largest fortunes

In July 2025 seven economics laureates wrote to France asking for a minimum tax of 2% a year on billionaire wealth. In September 2026 six of them, with Peter Diamond, wrote to California voters. Between them they hold prizes for work on information, trade, poverty, labour markets and institutions.

Updated November 12, 2026 · 4 min read

Economists do not often agree on tax. So it matters when the winners of the economics Nobel, a prize given for work on how economies actually behave, sign the same page and ask for a tax on the biggest fortunes. Eight of them have done it, on the record.

#Who they are

Joseph Stiglitz and George Akerlof share the 2001 prize for showing how markets break when one side knows more than the other.^[1] Paul Krugman won in 2008 for his work on trade and where industry settles.^[2] Peter Diamond won in 2010 for his study of how people and jobs find each other.^[3] Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo won in 2019 for testing, one experiment at a time, what really lifts people out of poverty.^[4] Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson won in 2024 for showing why some countries get rich and others do not, and what institutions have to do with it.^[5]

None of them is a campaigner by trade. Their prizes are for explaining markets, trade, jobs, poverty and institutions. Taxing the largest fortunes is where those subjects meet.

#The letter to France

On 7 July 2025, Acemoglu, Akerlof, Banerjee, Duflo, Johnson, Krugman and Stiglitz wrote an open letter that ran in Le Monde. They asked for a minimum tax on the ultra-rich, set as a percentage of their wealth.^[6]

Their case starts with a plain fact. People worth a billion or more pay roughly nothing to 0.6% of their wealth in income tax, because much of what they own is shares that grow without ever being sold. In the United States the effective rate they cite is about 0.6%. In France it is closer to 0.1%.^[6]

The numbers they put on the fix are large. A 2% yearly minimum tax on the wealth of about 3,000 billionaires would raise about $250 billion a year worldwide, and about $50 billion in Europe. Take in everyone worth more than $100 million and the sums grow a lot.^[6] Their answer to anyone who doubts it can be done: "Not only is it necessary to impose a stronger burden of justice on billionaires, but more importantly, it is possible."^[6]

They also answered the oldest objection. France's draft rule kept people who leave the country liable for five years, and the seven suggested ten.^[6] They said France should not wait for the world to agree, since the country brought in value-added tax first.^[6] See what the evidence says about people leaving.

#The letter to California

On 19 September 2026, six laureates signed a letter to California voters about Proposition 40, a one-time 5% tax on billionaire wealth: Acemoglu, Banerjee, Diamond, Duflo, Krugman and Stiglitz.^[7]^[8] Peter Diamond is the one name that was not on the French letter.

The letter set out what is at stake. About 250 Californian billionaires are worth $2.3 trillion. From 2019 to 2025 they paid California income tax equal to 1.6% of a $1.4 trillion gain in wealth. The one-time tax would raise about $100 billion, which the signers compare to a 5% income tax on every Californian taxpayer.^[7]

They also made a point about power. Billionaires gave about 1% of federal election donations in 2000 and about 19% in 2024, and several of the biggest newspapers and social platforms belong to billionaires.^[7] Their closing line is the one to remember: voters' choice "may well come to be seen as a turning point in the battle between democracy and oligarchy."^[7]

Voters said no on 3 November, 52.8% to 47.2%, in a campaign where one billionaire had already spent more than $100 million against it.^[7]^[11] Nearly half of California voted for the measure the laureates backed, in the face of that spending.

#Earlier statements

The two letters are not the first time. In January 2020 Abhijit Banerjee said India should consider bringing back its wealth tax.^[9] In September 2023 Joseph Stiglitz signed the open letter to the G20 asking for an international agreement to tax extreme wealth.^[10]

#Why their word counts

A letter from famous people proves nothing on its own. What these eight add is that each of them has spent a career on the questions a wealth tax raises: how information gaps let some people keep an edge, how the very rich avoid tax, what happens to growth, and what keeps a country fair enough to stay stable. They are qualified to judge the case, and they signed.

Every number above is checked against the page it comes from, and each statement in the register links to its source. The people are in the directory, with the page and the date for each one.

#Where to look next

For the figures behind their case, see why tax wealth at all. For the objection that the rich will leave, see they will leave.