Publications

La plupart des informations présentées ci-dessous ont été récupérées via RePEc avec l'aimable autorisation de Christian Zimmermann
Productivity slowdown and tax havens: Where is measured value creation?Journal articleJean-Charles Bricongne, Samuel Delpeuch et Margarita Lopez-Forero, Journal of International Economics, Volume 143, pp. 103757, 2023

Based on French firm-level data, we evaluate the contribution of the micro-level profit-shifting –through tax haven foreign direct investments– to the aggregate productivity slowdown measured in France. We show that firm measured productivity in France declines over the years following the establishment in a tax haven, with an average estimated drop by 3.5% in apparent labor productivity. To isolate the contribution of multinational enterprises' (MNEs) tax optimization to the decline in productivity, we then exploit the 2006 Cadbury-Schweppes decision of the European Court of Justice limiting the extent to which member States can counter European MNEs' tax planning strategies. We find that multinational groups benefiting from that loosening of the legal constraints do exhibit a lower labor productivity following that ruling. Finally, given these firms' weight, our results imply an annual loss of 5.7% in terms of the aggregate annual labor productivity growth.

Information disclosure under liability: an experiment on public badsJournal articleJulien Jacob, Eve-Angéline Lambert, Mathieu Lefebvre et Sarah Van Driessche, Social Choice and Welfare, Volume 61, Issue 1, pp. 155-197, 2023

We experimentally investigate the impact of information disclosure on managing common harms that are caused jointly by a group of liable agents. Subjects interact in a public bad setting and must choose ex ante how much to contribute in order to reduce the probability of causing a common damage. If a damage occurs, subjects bear a part of the loss according to the liability-sharing rule in force. We consider two existing rules: a per capita rule and a proportional rule. Our aim is to analyze the relative impact of information disclosure under each rule. We show that information disclosure increases contributions only under a per capita rule. This result challenges the classical results regarding the positive effects of information disclosure, since we show that this impact may depend upon the legal context. We also show that while a proportional rule leads to higher contributions than a per capita one, the positive effect of disclosure on a per capita rule makes it as efficient as a proportional rule without information disclosure.

Mineral Resources and the Salience of Ethnic IdentitiesJournal articleNicolas Berman, Mathieu Couttenier et Victoire Girard, The Economic Journal, Volume 133, Issue 653, pp. 1705-1737, 2023

This paper shows how ethnic identities may become more salient due to natural resources extraction. We combine individual data on the strength of ethnic—relative to national—identities with geo-localised information on the contours of ethnic homelands, and on the timing and location of mineral resources exploitation in 25 African countries, from 2005 to 2015. Our strategy takes advantage of several dimensions of exposure to resources exploitation: time, spatial proximity and ethnic proximity. We find that the strength of an ethnic group identity increases when mineral resource exploitation in that group’s historical homeland intensifies. We argue that this result is at least partly rooted in feelings of relative deprivation associated with the exploitation of the resources. We show that such exploitation has limited positive economic spillovers, especially for members of the indigenous ethnic group; and that the link between mineral resources and the salience of ethnic identities is reinforced among members of powerless ethnic groups and groups with strong baseline identity feelings or living in poorer areas, or areas with a history of conflict. Put together, these findings suggest a new dimension of the natural resource curse: the fragmentation of identities, between ethnic groups and nations.

Production Networks and International Fiscal SpilloversJournal articleMichael B. Devereux, Karine Gente et Changhua Yu, The Economic Journal, Volume 133, Issue 653, pp. 1871-1900, 2023

This paper analyses the impact of fiscal spending shocks in a dynamic, multi-country model with international production networks. The response of real gross domestic product to a fiscal spending shock can be decomposed into a direct effect, income effect and price effect. The direct effect depends only on input-output linkages, while the price effect is zero in the aggregate. We apply this decomposition to the Eurozone, and find that fiscal spillovers from Germany and the core Eurozone countries can be large, and within the range of empirical estimates. Without international production networks, spillovers would be significantly smaller. In an empirical application, using the decomposition, we find results strongly consistent with the model.

Targeting in networks under costly agreementsJournal articleMohamed Belhaj, Frédéric Deroian et Shahir Safi, Games and Economic Behavior, Volume 140, pp. 154-172, 2023

We consider agents organized in an undirected network of local complementarities. A principal with a fixed budget offers costly bilateral contracts in order to increase the sum of agents' effort. We study contracts rewarding effort exceeding the effort made in the absence of the principal. First, targeting a subgroup of the whole society becomes optimal under substantial contracting costs, which significantly increases the computational complexity of the principal's problem. In particular, under sufficiently low intensity of complementarities, a correspondence is established between optimal targeting and an NP-hard problem. Second, for any intensities of complementarities, the optimal unit returns offered to all targeted agents are positive for all contracting costs and in general heterogeneous, even though networks are undirected. Yet, heterogeneity never leads to negative returns, which implies that, with these linear payment schemes, coordination is never an issue for the principal.

Respective healthcare system performances taking into account environmental quality: what are the re-rankings for OECD countries?Journal articleArmel Ngami et Bruno Ventelou, Health Research Policy and Systems, Volume 21, Issue 1, pp. 57, 2023

Efficiency analyses have been widely used in the literature to rank countries regarding their health system performances. However, little place has been given to the environmental aspect: two countries with the same characteristics could experience completely different healthcare system outcomes just because they do not face the same environmental quality situation, which is a major determinant of the health of inhabitants.

Long-term health and economic impacts of air pollution in Greater GenevaJournal articleIrène Cucchi et Olivier Chanel, Journal of Air Pollution and Health, Volume 8, Issue 2, pp. 135-156, 2023

Introduction: We estimated the health and economic impacts of chronic exposure to air pollution for the Swiss part of the Greater Geneva area from 2016 to 2018.Materials and methods: We extracted from fine-scale modelled concentration maps for two pollutant indicators, particulate matter PM2.5 and nitrogen dioxide. Then, we performed a quantitative health impact assessment of the health burden attributable to anthropogenic-origin air pollution, and estimated the benefits of compliance with the federal Ordinance on Air Pollution Control (OAPC) limit values. Finally, we computed the economic impacts of these health effects. Results: Exposure to fine particles of anthropogenic origin was responsible for 7.5% of annual mortality (280 deaths or 5,900 life years lost), for 14 lung cancers and for 68 strokes annually in the Canton of Geneva. Compliance with the OAPC limit value of 10 µg/m3 as an annual average would reduce annual mortality by 1.5% (62 deaths avoided or 1,300 life years gained). Exposure to anthropogenic-origin NO2 was associated with 5.3% of annual deaths (approximately 200 deaths per year). The estimated total negative economic impacts of anthropogenic-origin fine particles were at least CHF2017 1.3 billion per year, whereas compliance with the OAPC limit values would result in annual economic benefits of at least CHF2017 290 million. Conclusion: We confirmed that air quality remains a health issue on which stakeholder mobilisation is vital. Action plans should tackle emissions from freight and personal mobility, heating, industry and agriculture, while seeking to improve knowledge on health risks from air pollution exposure.

Determinants of partial versus full cross-border acquisitions for Sovereign Wealth FundsJournal articleJeanne Amar, Mohamed Arouri, Gilles Dufrénot et Christelle Lecourt, Review of World Economics, 2023

In this paper, we investigate the determinants of equity shares purchased by Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs). Based on the literature of cross-border acquisitions and entry mode choice theory, we shed light on the real drivers of these state-owned funds when they buy small or large stakes in cross-border target firms. Using an original dataset of SWF acquisitions over the period 2000–2015, a Two-Part Fractional Regression Model is estimated to account for both the fractional nature of the dependent variable as well as the separation between the decision to invest and that concerning the share of equity invested. We find that the decision to invest and the decision on the share of equity to be acquired are two distinct processes. We also find that SWFs take the investment decision in cross-border target firms by trying to reduce transaction costs and information asymmetry according to the cross-border acquisition theory, and also by taking the legal and institutional environment of the host country into consideration. However, the fact that they do not hesitate to take large shares or to acquire targeted firms that are considered to be strategic and located in politically unstable countries suggests that their motives may go beyond financial consideration.

Technological innovations and obsolescence: Leveling the playing field for remanufacturingJournal articlePedro H. Albuquerque et Kiara S. Winans, 2023

In a linear economy, manufacturing is less costly and more profitable than remanufacturing because of reduced private costs of utilization and production. However, manufacturing also involves higher resource extraction and waste as externalized costs than remanufacturing. We use a vintage capital framework to assess technological innovations in remanufacturing and their potential benefits to society and human occupations. Our study shows that replacing manufacturing with remanufacturing technologies creates positive static and dynamic circular economy externalities. These externalities can be quantified to assess improvements in social outcomes. A smartphone remanufacturing innovation case study is presented as an illustration of the article’s main ideas. Future research should investigate additional specific cases to develop a comprehensive methodology for assessing the impact of remanufacturing innovations on social outcomes. This will provide valuable insights into the broader implications of remanufacturing practices.

Rational housing demand bubbleJournal articleLise Clain-Chamoset-Yvrard, Xavier Raurich et Thomas Seegmuller, Economic Theory, 2023

We provide a unified framework with demand for housing over the life cycle and financial frictions to analyze the existence and macroeconomic effects of rational housing bubbles. We distinguish a housing price bubble, defined as the difference between the housing market price and its fundamental value, from a housing demand bubble, which corresponds to a situation where a pure speculative housing demand exists. In an overlapping generation exchange economy, we show that no housing price bubble occurs. However, a housing demand bubble may occur, generating a boom in housing prices and a drop in the interest rate, when households face a binding borrowing constraint. The multiplicity of steady states and endogenous fluctuations can occur when credit market imperfections are moderate. These fluctuations involve transitions between equilibria with and without a housing demand bubble that generate large fluctuations in housing prices consistent with observed patterns. We finally extend the basic framework to a production economy and we show that a housing demand bubble increases housing prices, which can still be characterized by large fluctuations.