Public Outreach

Using a novel approach applied to the populations of France, the United Kingdom and the United States, economists explore inequalities in Body Mass Index and highlight a disparity between men and women.

Large American cities are experiencing labor market polarization, characterized by a simultaneous increase in the employment share of both high-skilled and low-skilled jobs. Economists Fabio Cerina, Elisa Dienesch, Alessio Moro, and Michelle Rendal propose that this phenomenon can be attributed to technology shocks that enhance the productivity of highly skilled workers. As these skilled workers increase their participation in the labor market, they also intensify their consumption of personal services, thus generating greater demand for low-skilled jobs.

In China, parents play a major role in finding a spouse for their children. Economists have studied parental preferences and how they match the wishes of their offspring.

In the 1950s, West Africa was on the eve of decolonisation. In a last gasp of imperialism, the French and British opened up public services and developed mass education. Over the same period, polygamy declined throughout the region. Economic researchers are asking whether there is a link between the level of education and this marital status.

Using data from French health centers from 2015 to 2016, years marked by terrorist attacks, a team of researchers found that depressive symptoms decreased as events unfolded.

Urbanisation is usually viewed as the result of rising productivity that attracts workers to cities. Economists Liam Brunt and Cecilia García-Peñalosa argue that in order to understand the beginnings of the Industrial Revolution, it is important to look at this phenomenon from the opposing perspective: productivity gains and growth are fostered by the exchanges of knowledge taking place within cities.

Although little studied in economics, the parent-child relationship is a crucial subject, intimately linked to fundamental socio-economic issues such as inequality, growth and education. Researcher Avner Seror looks at the nature of this interaction and the impact of screens within it.

In India, microcredit helps to cushion climatic shocks, finds economist Timothée Demont in his research on community-based economic Self-Help Groups in the eastern state of Jharkhand. His analysis focuses on the effects of these groups on the economic resilience of villages when droughts affect harvests.

The amount of money sent by emigrants to their countries of origin often exceeds that of international development aid programs. But what impact do these huge remittances have on the economies of countries? The observations are often contradictory. To understand them, economists Nicolas Destrée, Karine Gente, and Carine Nourry propose a model that links remittances, growth and education.

What can an Uzbek oasis in the ninth century teach us about the modern economy? Isolated in time and space, the oasis of Bukhara is an ideal "laboratory" for understanding the fundamental economic mechanisms behind urban organization. Economist Federico Trionfetti and archaeologist Rocco Rante bring together their disciplines, the past and the present, in their study of this unique place.