Public outreach

When real estate prices rise, it influences business investment. For large-scale property owners, this is something to celebrate, and investment increases. For those whose activities are smaller in scale, the outlook dims as investments decline. In their studies, Denis Fougère, Rémy Lecat, and Simon Ray are focusing on financial frictions with relation to property investments.

In the United States, student debt is skyrocketing, and young people are saddled with surging interest rates on their loans. It is not uncommon for Americans to start their career already $100,000 in debt. However, an investment in human capital (education) is, in theory, a productive investment. Economists Xavier Raurich and Thomas Seegmuller demonstrate this by analyzing how the speculative bubbles individuals use to finance their studies or raise children are, in the end, good for growth.

Speculative bubbles are good for growth! This observation led to major debates among economists in the 2000s. Researchers Xavier Raurich and Thomas Seegmuller sought to explain this phenomenon by studying how economic agents make investment decisions during the periods of their life as young adults, middle-aged adults, and retirees. Young people can therefore invest in their education, which is a productive but illiquid capital, through credits from the bubble (liquid assets stemming from speculative capital).

What is the common feature between global imbalances, the Crédit d’Impôt pour la Compétitivité et l’Emploi (CICE), and Donald Trump's tweets against China? Competitiveness! This concept has been at the heart of political discourse since the European debt crisis in 2010, leading to much scrutiny of its performance and praise of its growth. So, when it comes to reforms aimed at increasing competitiveness, economists Lise Patureau and Céline Poilly point out the importance of considering the impact of corporate markup.

A team of researchers in economics elicited population preferences regarding the main anti-Covid 19 strategies in France. The scientific article is published in The Lancet Public Health.

When an individual is afflicted with several chronic conditions at the same time, it is called multimorbidity. This is an increasingly common problem in Europe. How do general practitioners deal with it? How do they manage prescriptions that are not only vastly different but can lead to damaging drug interactions? These questions are explored by researchers Hélène Carrier, Anna Zaytseva, Aurélie Bocquier, Patrick Villani, Hélène Verdoux, Martin Fortin, and Pierre Verger in an article that examines the attitudes and practices of private general practitioners.

Invasive species are the second most frequent cause of global biodiversity loss, and financial consequences in Europe are estimated at 12 billion euros per year. Is it possible to eradicate these devilish pests with limited financial resources? To help identify priorities in such battles, a method is offered by authors Pierre Courtois, Charles Figuières, Chloé Mulier et Joakim Weill, which is based on interactions between different species.

According to game theory, free competition is not always ideal for society. Economists Gaëtan Fournier and Marco Scarsini use this perspective to study the spatial competition between several retailers. The retailers choose the location of their business to maximize their profits. According to the researchers’ model, pursuing an individual profit leads to stable but undesirable situations for the common good.

How many people are living in poverty in the world? Finding the answer to this simple question poses a wealth of difficulty. Determining who lives in poverty is a difficult task, and the various means used to count these people can give quite different values. Economists Zhou Xun and Michel Lubrano seek to illustrate this issue in their article, in which they propose a new method for assessing poverty in developing countries.

The analysis of conflict in Africa often foregrounds the existence of ethnic tensions, which are often due to issues with access to fertile land, which gives rise to inequalities. Economists Nicolas Berman, Mathieu Couttenier and Raphaël Soubeyran delve into the impact of soil productivity on conflicts. According to their analysis, the risk of violence increases in proportion to the level of difference in soil fertility.

In this book, economists Nicolas Jacquemet (Univ. Paris 1 / PSE), Stéphane Luchini (CNRS / AMSE) and Antoine Malézieux (Univ. Exeter / TARC) analyze tax fraud through the prism of behavioral economics. Available in French bookstores.

Should we favor large metropolises over small communities? According to standard economic theory, the answer is yes, since centralizing helps reduce expenses. However, when public authorities lack some of the relevant information, opting for a federal structure that allows redistribution between many small towns may be the way to go. Researchers Nicolas Gravel and Michel Poitevin demonstrate this by studying the distribution of public and private goods in both federal and centralized structures.

First complete edition of a major works of contemporary economics. Translated from german (Austria) and edited by Gilles Campagnolo.

Renting an apartment is not always an easy task. Between providing the numerous necessary documents and navigating a competitive rental market, finding a home sometimes becomes a matter of social connections and knowing the right person. It is possible that this problem is linked to the cumbersome legal proceedings necessary for eviction in the case of non-payment of rent by tenants. Eviction procedures can be long and extremely costly, particularly in countries where people have strong ties with family and friends, such as in southern Europe. This correlation is subject to analysis by Antoine Bonleu.

Greenhouse gas emissions have been a major topic of conversation both nationally and internationally for the past 20 years. Why is it so difficult to find common ground on the subject? One of the reasons is that reducing greenhouse gases by any level could lead to significant damage on both employment and society. Economists Julien Hanoteau and David Talbot demonstrate this by studying Quebec’s carbon market.

With more than 2,000 different ethnic groups in Africa, the cultural diversity of the continent is often faced with political fragmentation and development challenges. Does ethnic inclusion always guarantee economic growth? By studying 41 African states, economists Pierre Pecher and Frédéric Gaspart have demonstrated that ethnic inclusion has a positive effect on the GDP when stable, democratic institutions are in place.

Are the foundations of democracy always laid in the midst of civil disobedience? Most democratic transitions in the last century have not, in fact, been the result of a peoples’ revolt. When it is in their own interests, authoritarian elites have been known to cede power without witnessing an insurrection. The economists Raouf Boucekkine, Paolo G. Piacquadio and Fabien Prieur interrogate the conditions necessary for peaceful transfer of power, by highlighting how education can lay fertile ground for the seeds of democracy.

Researcher Raouf Boucekkine (AMU/AMSE) is coordinating a study for the French Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation (article in French only)

What do we know about nature? Not a whole lot. According to estimates from the French National Museum of Natural History, we have identified between 1% and 10% of the species on Earth. Marine ecosystems have been greatly damaged from being exploited for our wants and needs, though we still know very little about them and the role they play. Whether it is for biology or economics, we should be diving deep into how these habitats are important on both a large and small scale. This is what Laure Thierry de Ville d’Avray, Dominique Ami, Anne Chenuil, Romain David, and Jean-Pierre Féral have demonstrated by studying a little-known Mediterranean habitat known as ‘coralligene.’

Aix-Marseille School of Economics contributed to the report published by the OFCE and Collège des Economistes de la Santé. Article only in French