Economics serving society

For the general audience

5 papers... in 5 minutes!

2019-2021

Gendered migration responses to drought in Malawi
May 2021 - Luis Becerra-Valbuena and Katrin Millock
In poor countries with populations that are very dependent on agriculture, the impact of extreme weather events can be severe. If safety nets or other transfers do not exist, marriage of under-age daughters could be used as a coping strategy of poor families. A nascent literature in development economics has studied how different marriage institutions, notably dowry and bride prices, affect the responses to weather shocks through the timing of marriages and in particular the incidence of child marriages... read more

Prevention and mitigation of epidemics: biodiversity conservation and confinement policies
November 2020 - Emmanuelle Augeraud-Véron, Giorgio Fabbri and Katheline Schubert
The hopes of the post-war period that infectious diseases were behind us thanks to control and treatment improvements have proved to be false: the number of emerging infectious diseases (EID) has continued to rise since the 1950s. 60% of these EID are caused by zoonotic pathogens, mainly (72%) of wildlife origin (2). Examples include AIDS, SARS, MERS, Nipah Virus, Avian influenza, Ebola, Influenza A virus subtype H1N1, as well as COVID-19... read more

Human Capital and Welfare
November 2020 - Stefano Bosi, Carmen Camacho and David Desmarchelier
When Mahbub ul Haq introduced human development as a compound process which included education and life expectancy, he paved the way for a new avenue of research in development economics. The introduction of the Human Development Index (HDI) in ul Haq led to a new paradigm and to a modern theory of human development. However, although his works have influenced prominent economists like Amartya Sen, most growth theorists still focus on the utility of consumption... read more

The carbon curse in developed countries
October 2020 - Mireille Chiroleu-Assouline, Mouez Fodha and Yassine Kirat
How can we fight climate change? The effectiveness of the Paris Accord has been thrown into doubt by protectionist measures; these doubts are exacerbated by the economic and health crises and they render the prospect of an ambitious carbon tariff ever more remote. To these explanations for the failure of environmental policies, Chiroleu-Assouline, Fodha and Kirat add the abundance of natural resources, responsible for the carbon curse... read more

Why policy-makers should be cautious about “smart” agricultural input subsidies: evidence from Haiti
September 2020 - Jérémie Gignoux, Karen Macours, Daniel Stein and Kelsey Wright
The last decades have seen remarkable reductions in poverty and hunger in many developing countries. Increasing agricultural yields of staple crops remains, however, an important policy priority of governments in many low-income countries, often specifically motivated by food security concerns. Value chain interruptions related to the global COVID-19 pandemic and related self-sufficiency arguments have brought renewed urgency to these concerns... read more

Do drought episodes in Mali cause mass migrations?
February 2020 - Dimitri Defrance, Esther Delesalle and Flore Gubert
Recurring warnings from IPCC experts about the magnitude of future climate disruption are often accompanied by very alarming messages about the number of climatic or environmental migrants likely to arrive at Europe’s doorstep. While the influence of the climate on human mobility is undeniable and documented throughout history, the number of people who will leave their region of origin on a permanent basis in the coming years because of the direct or indirect effects of climatic disturbances are difficult to estimate accurately... read more

Spatial planning as a response to the climate crisis? Urban forms and sizes, and the carbon ‘carprint’ of households in France
October 2019 - Benjamin Carantino and Miren Lafourcade
In the context of global warming, carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions generated by road transport are the object of increasing attention. This sector is currently the source of one quarter of all global CO2 emissions and it is responsible for fully half the growth of emissions since the signing of the 1990 Kyoto Protocol. In the European Union, it is the only sector whose emissions have not decreased since then... read more

Accelerating Diffusion of Climate-Friendly Technologies: A Network Approach
January 2019 - Solmaria Halleck Vega, Antoine Mandel and Katrin Millock
Technology transfers and diffusion of green technologies are considered essential means to obtain the objectives of greenhouse gas emissions reductions. Such transfers typically occur through firms engaging in international trade, foreign direct investment, and licensing. In climate policy, multilateral mechanisms have been agreed upon, such as the Technology Mechanism and the Green Climate Fund... read more