Chapter 14. Does the low interest rate express new preferences of the society for the future?[Chapitre 14. La faiblesse du taux d’intérêt exprime-t-elle de nouvelles préférences de la société à l’égard du futur ?]

For several years, the level of interest rates has reached an historically low level. This situation is relatively new, because of its extent and duration, because no sign of reversal is noticeable. To explain this phenomenon, which they generally consider disturbing, economists propose two types of explanations. For some, it would be due to expansionary monetary policies applied by central banks trying to support the activity and banks. For others, it would result from the establishment of a regime of secular stagnation, linked to structural changes in supply and demand at the macroeconomic level. Curiously, they do not refer to the preferences expressed by agents. We propose a complementary, more optimistic hypothesis, suggesting that this low level of interest rates can also be explained by a profound change in social preferences, with a moving away time horizon, and more concern about the preservation of natural resources and the lives of future generations. If this assumption is correct, the level of the interest rate will remain weak for a long time and it is necessary to take advantage of it to invest massively in the ecological and social transition.