Publications
This paper aims to present a new explanation for environmental traps through the presence of endogenous hazard rate. We show that adaptation and mitigation policies affect the occurrence of environmental traps differently. The former could cause environmental traps, whereas the latter could help society avoid such traps by decreasing the probability of a harmful event occurring. As a result, we present a new trade-off between adaptation and mitigation policies different than the usual dynamic trade-off that is highlighted in many studies and is crucial to developing countries. Contrary to the literature, when an economy is in a trap, an economy with a high environmental quality equilibrium tends to be more conservative in terms of resource exploitation than an economy with a low environmental quality equilibrium, which implies a heterogeneous reaction against the endogenous hazard rate.
In this paper, we extend the general descent method proposed by Attouch, Bolte and Svaiter [Math. Program. 137 (2013), 91-129] to deal with possible asymmetric like-distances. Using a w-distance as regularization term our results guarantee the convergence of bounded sequences, under the assumption that the objective function satisfies the Kurdyka-Łojasiewicz inequality. In particular, it improves some existing works on proximal point methods with quasi-distance as regularization term because we prove convergence of bounded sequences without any additional assumption on the w-distance unlike it have been done with quasi-distances. The last section gives an application relative to the emergence of habits after a succession of worthwhile moves which balance motivation and resistance to move.
As Ricoeur acknowledges, the publication of Rawls’s book, A Theory of Justice(TJ), in 1971 was a major event in the area of contemporary political philoso-phy. Ricoeur offers important comments on Rawls’s approach to justice. These commentaries are mainly based on a close reading of this book. This article focuses on such commentaries. They are at the same time glowing and critical. Ricoeur expresses his support to Rawls for his illuminating study of justice, seen as a virtue of institutions.
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In this article, we studied geographic variation in the use of personalized genetic testing for advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and we evaluated the relationship between genetic testing rates and local socioeconomic and ecological variables. We used data on all advanced NSCLC patients who had a genetic test between April 2012 and April 2013 in France in the frame of the IFCT Biomarqueurs-France study (n = 15814). We computed four established measures of geographic variation of the sex-adjusted rates of genetic testing utilization at the “départment” (the French territory is divided into 94 administrative units called ‘départements’) level. We also performed a spatial regression model to determine the relationship between département-level sex-adjusted rates of genetic testing utilization and economic and ecological variables. Our results are the following: (i) Overall, 46.87% lung cancer admission patients obtained genetic testing for NSCLC; département-level utilization rates varied over 3.2-fold. Measures of geographic variation indicated a relatively high degree of geographic variation. (ii) there was a statistically significant relationship between genetic testing rates and per capita supply of general practitioners, radiotherapists and surgeons (negative correlation for the latter); lower genetic testing rates were also associated with higher local poverty rates. French policymakers should pursue effort toward deprived areas to obtain equal access to personalized medicine for advanced NSCLC patients.
Although it is widely acknowledged that non-cognitive skills matter for adult outcomes, little is known about the role played by family environment in the formation of these skills. We use a longitudinal survey of children born in the UK in 2000–2001, the Millennium Cohort Study by the Centre for Longitudinal Studies, to estimate the effect of family size on socio-emotional skills, measured by the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. To account for the endogeneity of fertility decisions, we use a well-known instrumental approach that exploits parents’ preference for children’s gender diversity. We show that the birth of a third child negatively affects the socio-emotional skills of the first two children in a persistent manner. However, we show that this negative effect is entirely driven by girls. We provide evidence that this gender effect is partly driven by an unequal response of parents’ time investment in favour of boys and, to a lesser extent, by an unequal demand for household chores.
This paper investigates the link between parental separation and children's achievement in adulthood. Using a French dataset on “Education-Training-Employment”, I first estimate a random effects model and then examine the differences in age at divorce for children within the same family, to control for divorced family selection. Three outcomes are analysed: number of years of schooling, earnings-weighted education and social position. Using a random effects model, parental separation is linked to poorer educational attainment for their children, from 32% to 12% of a standard deviation lower where the number of years of education is concerned, and from 30% to 8% of a standard deviation lower where the earnings-weighted education is concerned. This effect varies with age: least affected are the 16 to 18-year-olds, and most affected are the youngest. Where social position is concerned, effects are weaker, but remain negative. Accounting for the family fixed effect yields somewhat weaker estimated effects for the youngest, but results remain similar. Parental separation is more detrimental to boys' education under both models, but conducting a F-test, we only reject the nul hypothesis for earnings-weighted education where family fixed effect is accounted for. In results from both models, teenagers who experience a parental separation are less affected if born after 1970, but differences are not statistically different from zero where the family fixed effect is accounted for. JEL Codes: I20, J12.
The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, we examine convergence properties of an inexact proximal point method with a quasi distance as a regularization term in order to find a critical point (in the sense of Toland) of a DC function (difference of two convex functions). Global convergence of the sequence and some convergence rates are obtained with additional assumptions. Second, as an application and its inspiration, we study in a dynamic setting, the very important and difficult problem of the limit of the firm and the time it takes to reach it (maturation time), when increasing returns matter in the short run. Both the formalization of the critical size of the firm in term of a recent variational rationality approach of human dynamics and the speed of convergence results are new in Behavioral Sciences.
This chapter discusses the potential impacts of the spread of COVID-19, and the restriction policies that it has triggered in many countries, on conflict incidence worldwide. Based on anecdotal evidence and recent research, we argue that imposing nation-wide shutdown policies diminishes conflict incidence on average, but that this conflict reduction may be short-lived and highly heterogeneous across countries. In particular, conflict does not appear to decline in poor, fractionalised countries. Evidence points to two potential ways in which COVID-related restriction policies may increase conflict: losses in income and magnified ethnic and religious tensions leading to scapegoating of minorities.
We introduce an approach based on functional data analysis to identify patterns of malaria incidence to guide effective targeting of malaria control in a seasonal transmission area. Using functional data method, a smooth function (functional data or curve) was fitted from the time series of observed malaria incidence for each of 575 villages in west-central Senegal from 2008 to 2012. These 575 smooth functions were classified using hierarchical clustering (Ward’s method), and several different dissimilarity measures. Validity indices were used to determine the number of distinct temporal patterns of malaria incidence. Epidemiological indicators characterizing the resulting malaria incidence patterns were determined from the velocity and acceleration of their incidences over time. We identified three distinct patterns of malaria incidence: high-, intermediate-, and low-incidence patterns in respectively 2% (12/575), 17% (97/575), and 81% (466/575) of villages. Epidemiological indicators characterizing the fluctuations in malaria incidence showed that seasonal outbreaks started later, and ended earlier, in the low-incidence pattern. Functional data analysis can be used to identify patterns of malaria incidence, by considering their temporal dynamics. Epidemiological indicators derived from their velocities and accelerations, may guide to target control measures according to patterns.
Le marginalisme autrichien a pénétré en Ukraine dès la fin du xixe et le début du xxe siècle à travers la théorie de l’utilité développée par l’économiste et mathématicien Yevgen Slutsky. Sa Théorie de l’utilité marginale montre comment les idées autrichiennes majeures y furent reçues et reprises. Slutsky abordait l’économie en scientifique avec une réception critique de la théorie subjective de la valeur élaborée par Carl Menger. Slutsky développa son propre concept de valeur, qu’il présenta dans sa Critique du concept de valeur. Les auteurs se basent sur un matériau inédit conservé dans des archives à Kiev. Slutsky débattit les positions d’Eugen Böhm-Bawerk, il « objectiva » la fonction d’utilité et il souligna le rôle du comportement de consommation au sein du marché. Ses découvertes exercèrent une grande influence : les « équations de Slutsky », l’« effet Slutsky-Yule » et le « théorème de Slutsky » en témoignent.
