Paris (AFP) - France's influential economist Thomas Piketty, author of "Capital in the 21st Century", on Thursday refused to accept the country's highest award, the Legion d'honneur, to criticise the Socialist government in power. 
 
 "I refuse this nomination because I do not think it is the government's role to decide who is honourable," Piketty told AFP. 
 
 "They would do better to concentrate on reviving (economic) growth in France and Europe," added Piketty, who was once close to the Socialist Party but has distanced himself from the policies of President Francois Hollande. ||||| Image copyright AFP Image caption Mr Piketty said "it is not the government's role to decide who is honourable" 
 
 French economist Thomas Piketty, the best-selling author of Capital in the 21st Century, has turned down France's top award, the Legion D'Honneur. 
 
 "I do not think it is the government's role to decide who is honourable", Mr Piketty said. 
 
 His book examines income inequality in society and became a surprise hit, topping the bestseller list in the US. 
 
 It is rare for anyone to turn down the award, says the BBC's Hugh Schofield in Paris. 
 
 But Mr Piketty, who was once close to the Socialist Party but has criticised the government of Francois Hollande, said he was unable to accept the award. 
 
 "I have just learned that I was nominated for the Legion D'Honneur. I refuse this nomination because I do not think it is the government's role to decide who is honourable," he told the news agency AFP. 
 
 "They would do better to concentrate on reviving [economic] growth in France and Europe." 
 
 Capital, a book of almost 600 pages, sold half a million copies in English and was much-debated, particularly in the US. 
 
 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Piketty's analysis and policy suggestions proved controversial 
 
 Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman called it "the most important economics book of the year - and maybe of the decade". 
 
 Last year, cartoonist Jacques Tardi also turned down the Legion D'Honneur. 
 
 Others to have refused the award include philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre and radiology pioneers Pierre and Marie Curie. ||||| PARIS—French economist Thomas Piketty, author of the best-selling book “Capital in the Twenty-First Century,” has turned down the Legion of Honor, saying the government should focus on reviving the country’s anemic economy rather than “decide who is honorable.” 
 
 Mr. Piketty’s refusal of one of France’s highest distinctions—announced via a short declaration to the Agence France-Presse news agency—is a snub to the government a day after President François Hollande cited the global influence of French scholars as evidence of the...
– The French economist whose 685-page Capital in the Twenty-First Century became a surprise 2014 bestseller has rejected the country's top honor, saying the government should concentrate on fixing the economy instead of giving out awards. "I refuse this nomination because I do not think it is the government's role to decide who is honorable," Thomas Piketty tells AFP, which notes that he supported the Socialist Party in the 2012 election but has since been a fierce critic of President Francois Hollande's policies. Piketty, who wants a complete overhaul of the tax system to reverse inequality, says the government's priority should be reviving the French and European economies. He had been nominated for the Legion of Honor by the country's education ministry, reports the Wall Street Journal. "We take note of his decision to refuse the distinction," the minister in charge of universities and research says. "The excellence and the visibility of his work remain." It is rare for a nominee to reject the award, although Jean-Paul Sartre and Pierre and Marie Curie also turned it down, the BBC notes.