Economics serving society

New human, financial and building resources

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Created as a foundation for scientific co-operation, PSE associates closely its private-sector teams and funding with its public-sector personnel and resources. Supported by a flexible and active administration, and an equally active commitment by teacher-researchers to the operational management of the projects, PSE has progressively increased its funding resources via different channels. Talked about since December 2007, the construction of a new building, co-funded by the Ile-de-France region, the City of Paris and the central government, is now near completion: it will be inaugurated on 23 February next year and will open up new perspectives for the PSE.


A flexible and active administration

The scholarly and scientific project led by the Paris School of Economics is an expression of an original private-law support structure – the foundation of scientific co-operation – and public teams of researchers and administrative staff brought together within a UMR.

A foundation recognised as a public utility, PSE is flexibly directed and has management tools complementary to those of a public organisation. Twelve people were recruited to the teaching secretariat to ensure the effective running of the teaching programme, to promote and disseminate the work of the researchers, to develop new partnerships, to help researchers to plan their projects and to find external funding, and to organise scientific events and those for a broader audience. The secretariat supports researchers who are highly committed to the operational management of teaching and scholarly projects. This close and singular co-operation has promoted an eruption of new projects, stimulated vitality in scientific activity, and contributed to the attractiveness and the profile of the project as a whole.

“I have excellent memories of my years at PSE: [...] the warm camaraderie among the PhD candidates, some of whom became my friends; and the institutional support I received during my search for employment. I hope to come back soon to see the new building whose construction marked the years of my thesis!” - Pauline Rossi (APE 2012, PhD 2015)

Growth of funding resources

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The contribution of complementary financial resources was one of the original aims of PSE. The road is yet long, but the results have slowly revealed themselves to be very substantial.

  • On top of the initial state endowment totalling 20.3 million euros, made directly or through the founding establishments, contributions totalling 3.7 million euros were made by private sponsors: the American Foundation for the Paris School of Economics, AXA, Boussard et Gavaudan Gestion, Nicolas Chanut and Exane. This endowment generates around one million euros in interest per annum for the budget.
  • PSE has also been working to create research chairs to finance research themes and provide them with new means of action: the Banque de France chair of the structures of the monetary system and international finance, the Hospinnomics chair with APHP on innovation in hospitals, the G-MonD with the support of Air France, the Comité Colbert and Total, and the chair in Dependency (Fondation Médéric Alzheimer, Banque Postale, Mutec and Mutré - in collaboration with IPP), and more recently, the chair in work (supported by the City of Paris, Pôle Emploi and the Ministry of Labour). These resources represent 1.5 million euros per annum and 17 per cent of PSE’s financial resources.
  • The foundation also initiated and supported two major projects which, over ten years have brought in 14,8 million euros of new resources: the Domaine d’intérêt majeur en sciences économiques (DIMeco) granted by the Ile-de-France region and the Laboratory of excellence created within the framework of the future investments programme (OSE).
  • Finally, the support offered to researchers in terms of intelligence about tender appeals and the setting up of projects has promoted a strong improvement in the number of projects submitted and their success. Thus, the research grants (ERC, ESRC, INET, ANR), partnerships and research contracts, above and beyond the resources committed directly to their object of study, contribute on average up to 800,000 euros every year to the collective project and create a high quality scientific environment.

A new building on the Jourdan campus

The Ile-de-France region undertook, at the creation of PSE, to contribute to the construction of a new building for it. In the end, the Jourdan campus site was chosen for a communal building, designed by architect Thierry Van de Wingaert and co-financed by the Ile-de-France region (63 per cent), the central government (30 per cent) and the City of Paris (7 per cent) for a total of 49 million euros.
Spread over two campuses for 10 years, the Centre d’Economie of the Sorbonne and the Jourdan campus, PSE researchers, support staff and students move to the new building in the first trimester of 2017. They enjoy more than 6,000 m² of space, plus a library, an amphitheatre and a cafeteria shared with the ENS. This geographical proximity offers new perspectives for the PSE project.

“I came for the first time to Jourdan in 2001 [...] The campus has certainly changed since then; the big building that will now replace the modest wing of the past is in proportion to the density and the bubbling intellectual activity that I found there, and which, I realise each time I come back, doesn’t stop growing. Happy birthday PSE!” - Florian Mayneris (APE 2004, PhD 2009)

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