He went to school in Château-Gontier, to which he returned after studying at the École Supérieure de Commerce in Nantes and Sciences Po in Paris.

[2] In early 1996, Arthuis and his German counterpart Theo Waigel launched a French-German economic stimulus package aimed at encouraging spending, increasing growth, cutting taxes on business and reducing unemployment.

[3] Under a plan announced by Arthuis in 1996, the state-run bank Caisse des dépôts et consignations bought more than two-thirds of the shares of nearly bankrupt property lender Crédit Foncier de France and transfer its assets to another state-run entity, which was to liquidate them over 10 years; although Crédit Foncier was not state-owned, the government had to rescue it not only because of its large exposure to the bond market but also because many French people considered its shares to be among the most steady and risk-free.

[4] That same year, Arthuis called for an investigation of former top executives at the state-controlled bank Credit Lyonnais for concealing losses at one of its key units, Altus Finance.

[2] In 2013, Jean-Louis Borloo of the Union of Democrats and Independents (UDI) included Arthuis in his shadow cabinet; in this capacity, he served as opposition counterpart to Minister of European Affairs Thierry Repentin.