Seminars

Regulation and Environment Seminar

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Upcoming events

• Monday 5 October 2020 17:30-18:30

  https://zoom.us/j/98281389413?pwd=cWxiVzVPdVdCYm1Ec2pDcDYybk5tQT09

  MENG Kyle (UCSB) : Spatial Correlation, Trade, and Inequality: Evidence from the Global Climate

  Jonathan I. Dingel Chicago Booth & NBER, Solomon M. Hsiang UC Berkeley & NBER

  Abstract

  This paper shows that greater global spatial correlation of productivities can increase crosscountry welfare dispersion by increasing the correlation between a country’s productivity and its gains from trade. We causally validate this prediction using a global climatic phenomenon as a natural experiment. We ?nd that gains from trade in cereals over the last half-century were larger for more productive countries and smaller for less productive countries when cereal productivity was more spatially correlated. Incorporating this role for spatial interdependence into a projection of climate-change impacts raises projected international inequality, with higher welfare losses across most of Africa.

• Monday 12 October 2020 12:00-13:00

  https://zoom.us/j/98281389413?pwd=cWxiVzVPdVdCYm1Ec2pDcDYybk5tQT09

  LEROUTIER Marion (PSE) : *

• Monday 19 October 2020 17:30-18:30

  https://zoom.us/j/98281389413?pwd=cWxiVzVPdVdCYm1Ec2pDcDYybk5tQT09

  HSIANG Solomon (Berkeley) : Accounting for Unobservable Heterogeneity in Cross Section Using Spatial First Differences

  Hannah Druckenmiller

  Abstract

  We develop a simple cross-sectional research design to identify causal effects that is robust to unobservable heterogeneity. When many observational units are dense in physical space, it may be sufficient to regress the “spatial first differences” (SFD) of the outcome on the treatment and omit all covariates. This approach is conceptually similar to first differencing approaches in time-series or panel models, except the index for time is replaced with an index for locations in space. The SFD design identifies plausibly causal effects, even when no instruments are available, so long as local changes in the treatment and unobservable confounders are not systematically correlated between immediately adjacent neighbors. We demonstrate the SFD approach by recovering new cross-sectional estimates for the effects of time-invariant geographic factors, soil and climate, on long-run average crop productivities across US counties — relationships that are notoriously confounded by unobservables but crucial for guiding economic decisions, such as land management and climate policy.

• Monday 2 November 2020 12:00-13:00

  https://zoom.us/j/98281389413?pwd=cWxiVzVPdVdCYm1Ec2pDcDYybk5tQT09

  SOVINSKY Michelle (University of Manheim) : *

• Monday 9 November 2020 12:00-13:00

  https://zoom.us/j/98281389413?pwd=cWxiVzVPdVdCYm1Ec2pDcDYybk5tQT09

  BIGLAISER Gary (UNC) : Should I stay or should I go? Migrating away from an incumbent platform

• Monday 16 November 2020 12:00-13:00

  https://zoom.us/j/98281389413?pwd=cWxiVzVPdVdCYm1Ec2pDcDYybk5tQT09

  ESPINOSA Romain (CNRS) : *

• Monday 23 November 2020 12:00-13:00

  https://zoom.us/j/98281389413?pwd=cWxiVzVPdVdCYm1Ec2pDcDYybk5tQT09

  ALLAIN Marie-Laure (CREST) : *

• Monday 30 November 2020 12:00-13:00

  https://zoom.us/j/98281389413?pwd=cWxiVzVPdVdCYm1Ec2pDcDYybk5tQT09

  RIEDEL Nadine (University of Muenster) : *

• Monday 7 December 2020 12:00-13:00

  https://zoom.us/j/98281389413?pwd=cWxiVzVPdVdCYm1Ec2pDcDYybk5tQT09

  SCHMUTZLER Armin (UZH) : *

• Monday 14 December 2020 12:00-13:00

  https://zoom.us/j/98281389413?pwd=cWxiVzVPdVdCYm1Ec2pDcDYybk5tQT09

  REGUANT Mar (Northwestern) : *

• Monday 1 March 2021 12:00-13:00

  MOLINA Hugo (INRAE) : *

• Monday 15 March 2021 12:00-13:00

  LOPEZ Angel Luis (UAB) : *

• Monday 22 March 2021 12:00-13:00

  HEIDHUES Paul (University of Dusseldorf) : *

• Monday 26 April 2021 12:00-13:00

  BOSETTI Valentina (Unibocconi) : *

• Monday 3 May 2021 12:00-13:00

  FABRA Natalia (uc3m) : *

• Monday 10 May 2021 12:00-13:00

  GOMES Renato (TSE) : *

• Monday 17 May 2021 12:00-13:00

  PICCOLO Salvatore (University of Bergamo) : *

• Monday 24 May 2021 12:00-13:00

  CAMPIGLIO Emanuele (University of Bologna) : *

Archives

• Monday 21 September 2020 12:00-13:00

  online

  HARSTAD Bard (University of Oslo) : THE CONSERVATION MULTIPLIER

  Abstract

  Every government that controls an exhaustible resource must decide whether toexploit it or to conserve and thereby let the subsequent government decide whetherto exploit or conserve. This paper develops a model of this situation and showswhen a small probability that some future government will exploit has a multipliere§ect on earlier decisions. The multiplier can be taken advantage of by a lobbypaying for exploitation, or by a donor compensating for conservation. The analysisalso uncovers when compensations are optimally o§ered to the president, the partyin power, the general public, or to the lobby group.

• Monday 7 September 2020 12:00-13:00

  online

  SCHUBERT Katheline (Université Paris 1, PSE) : Prevention and Mitigation of Epidemics: Biodiversity Conservation and Confinement Policies

  E. Augeraud-Véron, G. Fabbbri

  Abstract

  This paper presents a first model integrating the relation between biodiversity loss and zoonose pandemic risks in a general equilibrium dynamic economic set-up. The occurrence of pandemics is modeled as Poissonian leaps in economic variables. The planner can intervene in the economic and epidemiological dynamics in two ways: first (prevention), by deciding to preserve a greater quantity of biodiversity, thus decreasing the probability of a pandemic occurring, and second (mitigation), by reducing the death toll through a confinement policy. The class of social welfare functional considered has, as polar cases, a total utilitarian and an average utilitarian specifications. It implicitly considers, at the same time, the effects of policies on mortality and on the productive capacity of the country. Thanks to the Epstein-Zin specification of preferences, we disantangle risk aversion and fluctuation aversion. The model is explicitly solved and the optimal policy completely described. The qualitative dependence of the optimal policy on natural, productivity and preference parameters is discussed. In particular the optimal lockdown is shown to be more severe in societies valuing more human life, and the optimal biodiversity conservation is shown to be more relevant for more “forward looking” societies, with a small discount rate and a high degree of altruism towards individuals of future generations. We also show that societies accepting a large welfare loss to mitigate the pandemics are also societies doing a lot of prevention. After calibrating the model with COVID-19 pandemic data we compare the mitigation efforts predicted by the model with those of the recent literature and we study the optimal prevention-mitigation policy mix.

• Monday 22 June 2020 12:00-13:00

  online

  MELINDI-GHIDI Paolo (Université de Nanterre) : Particularism, dominant minorities and institutional change

  Raouf Boucekkine, Rodolphe Desbordes

  Abstract

  We develop a theory of institutional transition from dictatorship to minority dominant-based regimes in resource-dependent economies. We depart from the standard political transition framework à la Acemoglu-Robinson in four essential ways: (i) population is heterogeneous, there is a minority/majority split, heterogeneity being generic, simply reflecting subgroup size; (ii) there is no median voter in the post-dictatorship period, political and economic competition is favorable to the minority (fiscal particularism); (iii) (windfall) natural resources are introduced, and (iv) we distinguish between labor income and resources, and labor supply is endogenous. We first document empirically fiscal particularism, its connection with natural resource endowment, and the impact of both on revolutionary bursts. Second, we construct a full-fledged model incorporating the four characteristics outlined above. We show, among others, that polarization is a sufficient condition for revolutions, while natural resource rents are not although they do matter when polarization is low. In agreement with our empirical facts, countries engaging in revolutions tend to be slightly less resource-rich than other countries. We also outline the interplay between natural resource rents, polarization and labor market conditions at the dawn of institutional change. Our theory is appropriate to understand the institutional dynamics of highly homogeneous resource-rich countries which, after a post-independence autocratic regime, turn to be dominated by minorities.

  Full text [pdf]

• Monday 15 June 2020 15:00-16:00

  Online

  MIKLOS-THAL Jeanine (University of Rochester) : Opportunism in Multilateral Vertical Contracting: A Dynamic Perspective

  Jihwan Do (University of Rochester)

  Abstract

  This paper proposes a dynamic approach to modeling opportunism in vertical contracting between an upstream monopolist and competing downstream firms. Unlike previous literature on opportunism which has focused on games in which the upstream firm makes simultaneous secret offers to the downstream firms, we model opportunism as a consequence of recontracting in an infinite-horizon continuous-time model. We find that the extent of opportunism depends on the absolute and relative reaction speeds of the different supplier-retailer pairs and on the firms' discount rate. Asymmetries in reaction speeds across supplier-retailer pairs can alleviate the opportunism problem.

• Monday 8 June 2020 14:00-15:00

  online

  CHABE-FERRET Sylvain (TSE) : Water Quality, Policy Diffusion Effects and Farmers' Behavior

  Abstract

  The nitrogen cycle is one of the most perturbed geo-chemical cycles on earth. Human activity, mainly through intensive farming, releases nitrogen by-products such as nitrates and ammonium in the environment where they have wide ranging impacts on human health, biodiversity and climate change. One of the earliest and most ambitious regulation of nitrogen use in the world is the EU Nitrate Directive. The EU Nitrate Directive not only sets limitations on the amount and timing of application of nitrogen but also imposes the adoption of modern tools of nitrogen management in an effort to enhance nitrogen use efficiency. We leverage the geographical and temporal variation in the implementation of the Nitrate Directive to estimate its causal effects on water quality and biodiversity, and on farmers' practices, Nitrogen Use Efficiency, productivity and profits in a Difference In Difference (DID) framework. We modify the DID estimator to account for the existence of diffusion effects along river streams and for the non-point source nature of pollution by nitrates. We find that the EU Nitrate Directive reduced the concentration of nitrates in surface water by 1.23 milligrams per liter, a decrease of 8%. We find a clear dose-response relationship, with higher impacts where more of the upstream area is covered by the Directive. We also find that other biochemical indicators, as well as biodiversity, as measured by the number of fish and fish species, also improved thanks to the Directive. In ongoing work, we find suggestive evidence that the Directive managed to improve farmers' nitrogen use efficiency and productivity and did not decrease their profits.

• Monday 25 May 2020 14:00-15:00

  online

  MELINDI-GHIDI Paolo (Université de Nanterre) : Particularism, dominant minorities and institutional change

  Raouf Boucekkine, Rodolphe Desbordes

  Abstract

  We develop a theory of institutional transition from dictatorship to minority dominant-based regimes in resource-dependent economies. We depart from the standard political transition framework à la Acemoglu-Robinson in four essential ways: (i) population is heterogeneous, there is a minority/majority split, heterogeneity being generic, simply reflecting subgroup size; (ii) there is no median voter in the post-dictatorship period, political and economic competition is favorable to the minority (fiscal particularism); (iii) (windfall) natural resources are introduced, and (iv) we distinguish between labor income and resources, and labor supply is endogenous. We first document empirically fiscal particularism, its connection with natural resource endowment, and the impact of both on revolutionary bursts. Second, we construct a full-fledged model incorporating the four characteristics outlined above. We show, among others, that polarization is a sufficient condition for revolutions, while natural resource rents are not although they do matter when polarization is low. In agreement with our empirical facts, countries engaging in revolutions tend to be slightly less resource-rich than other countries. We also outline the interplay between natural resource rents, polarization and labor market conditions at the dawn of institutional change. Our theory is appropriate to understand the institutional dynamics of highly homogeneous resource-rich countries which, after a post-independence autocratic regime, turn to be dominated by minorities.

  Full text [pdf]

• Monday 18 May 2020 12:00-13:00

  salle R1-13, campus Jourdan - 75014 Paris

  CRAWFORD Gregory (UZH) : ANNULE

• Monday 11 May 2020 12:00-13:00

  salle R1-13, campus Jourdan - 75014 Paris

  PICCOLO Salvatore (University of Bergamo) : ANNULE

• Monday 4 May 2020 14:00-15:00

  ANNULE

  SOVINSKY Michelle (University of Manheim) : ANNULE - Internet (Power) to the People: The Impact of Demand-side Subsidies in Colombia

  Abstract

  Finding strategies to bridge the digital divide has been a major goal of public policy over the last decades. Accordingly, multiple demand-side interventions have been implemented to decrease Internet adoption barriers. In this paper, we assess the impact on internet adoption from a pricing subsidy to low-income households implemented by the Colombian government during the period 2012-2014. This is not a straightforward exercise as not all consumers in a small geographic region are offered the same plans and, more prohibitively, data on the size of the targeted market are not available. We develop a method that allows us to estimate a structural demand model of household preferences for Internet services and to gauge the effects of the subsidy policy while overcoming these limitations. We find that households present heterogeneity with respect to price sensitivity and that their adoption decisions are driven by the type of ISP (i.e., national or local provider) and the type of service (i.e., broadband or narrowband). We find that the price subsidy (of 12%) resulted in a 33% point increase in internet adoption among low-income consumers. The largest impact was in markets that had higher average coverage prior to the subsidy. Counterfactual results show that increasing the reliability of the service would increase adoption by almost as much as a price subsidy and would be most beneficial to households in less technically savvy markets. Our findings suggest that pricing subsidies are effective in closing the digital divide, but that policies focused on increasing the reliability of services are equally important.

• Monday 27 April 2020 12:00-13:00

  salle R1-13, campus Jourdan - 75014 Paris

  JEGARD Martin (PSE) : ANNULE

• Monday 20 April 2020 14:00-15:00

  Zoom

  STOSTAD Morten (PSE) : Inequality as an Externality: Consequences for Tax Design

  Abstract

  This paper proposes to treat inequality as an economic externality. Doing so allows us to introduce the societal effects of income inequality into simple welfarist models, wherein these effects are generally omitted. Novel policy implications are illustrated through an optimal income taxation model: resulting optimal income tax rates become unambiguously more progressive with a negative inequality externality, top optimal tax rates are shown to be particularly susceptible to the inequality externality, and optimal rates above the revenue-maximizing Laffer rate are observed. Our findings indicate that the magnitude of the inequality externality could be a significant factor in optimal policy design.

• Monday 30 March 2020 12:00-13:00

  salle R1-13, campus Jourdan - 75014 Paris

  CALEL Raphaël (Georgetown University) : ANNULE

• Monday 23 March 2020 12:00-13:00

  salle R1-13, campus Jourdan - 75014 Paris

  LAUKKANEN Marita (VATT) : ANNULE. Energy Taxes and Manufacturing Firm Performance: Evidence from Finland's Green Tax Reform

  Kimmo Ollikka

  Abstract

  This paper seeks to evaluate the effect of energy taxes on the economic and environmental performance of manufacturing firms. We examine these issues in the context of Finland’s green energy tax reform that substantially increased the excise taxes on energy inputs, with the aim of promoting energy efficiency and reducing CO2-emissions. The preparation of the tax reform was accompanied by controversy over the predicted effects on manufacturing firm competitiveness, with the consequence that firms above a certain energy tax threshold were granted an exemption from energy taxes. While firms below the threshold pay energy taxes in full, firms above the threshold are refunded up to 85 percent of their energy taxes. Exempt and non-exempt firms, and in particular plants within these firms, can be otherwise very similar. The exemption rule allows us to compare plants that operate in the same manufacturing sectors and have otherwise similar history, but have been subject to different effective tax rates since the tax reform. Overall the results are most compatible with no important effect of the energy tax refund on employees, wages or energy use on average, and, if anything, a negative impact on gross output and energy efficiency.

• Monday 16 March 2020 12:00-13:00

  salle R1-13, campus Jourdan - 75014 Paris

  FISHMAN Arthur (Bar-Ilan University) : ANNULE

• Monday 9 March 2020 12:00-13:00

  salle R1-13, campus Jourdan - 75014 Paris

  SCHLENKER Wolfram (Columbia University) : Coase, Hotelling and Pigou: The Incidence of a Carbon Tax and CO2 Emissions

  Geoffrey Heal

  Abstract

  A carbon tax has been widely discussed as a way of reducing fossil fuel use and mitigating climate change, generally in a static framework. Unlike standard goods that can be produced, oil is an exhaustible resource. Parts of its price reflects scarcity rents, i.e., the fact that there is limited availability. We highlight important dynamic aspects of a global carbon tax, which will reallocate consumption through time: some of the initial reduction in consumption will be offset through higher consumption later on. Only reserves with high enough extraction cost will be priced out of the market. Using data from a large proprietary database of field-level oil data, we show that carbon prices even as high as 200 dollars per ton of CO2 will only reduce cumulative emissions from oil by 4% as the supply curve is very steep for high oil prices and few reserves drop out. The supply curve flattens out for lower price, and the effect of an increased carbon tax becomes larger. For example, a carbon price of 600 dollars would reduce cumulative emissions by 60%. On the flip side, a global cap and trade system that limits global extraction by a modest amount like 4% expropriates a large fraction of scarcity rents and would imply a high permit price of $200. The tax incidence varies over time: initially, about 75% of the carbon price will be passed on to consumers, but this share declines through time and even becomes negative as oil prices will drop in future years relative to a case of no carbon tax. The net present value of producer and consumer surplus decrease by roughly equal amounts, which are almost entirely offset by increased tax revenues.

• Monday 2 March 2020 12:00-13:00

  salle R1-13, campus Jourdan - 75014 Paris

  RHODES Andrew (TSE) : Dynamic Consumer Search

  Abstract

  We consider a model in which firms sell differentiated products, and consumers are interested in buying repeatedly over time but need to search for price and product information. Firms and consumers turn over at an exogenous rate. We show that provided the search cost is not too large, the market exhibits pure strategy price dispersion. Specifically, older firms charge higher prices because they face a larger and `better-matched' demand. The fact that sellers gradually raise their prices over time also leads to rich consumer search and purchase dynamics. For example, consumers may initially search a lot for a product, return to the seller and buy for several periods, but then faced with successive price increases quit the firm and search again for a new product. We also provide conditions under which the ability of sellers to contact past customers and offer them personalized prices leads to higher consumer surplus.

• Monday 24 February 2020 12:00-13:00

  salle R1-13, campus Jourdan - 75014 Paris

  ORSET Caroline (AgroParisTech) : Innovation, information, lobby and tort law under uncertainty

  Julien Jacob (Université de Strasbourg, BETA)

  Abstract

  Recent environmental policies favor the 'pollutant-payer' Principle. This Principle points out the pollutant financial liability for eventual incident induced by its activities. Investing in technological innovations generates uncertainty on the future returns, as well as on the damages that such innovations could involve and on the cost to pay in case of troubles. To reduce this uncertainty, the firm has the opportunity to acquire information, for example through research activities, on its project's potential consequences on human health and on the environment. However, in their efforts to obtain and/or to maintain a marketing authorization with the Regulator affairs, firms may develop specific strategies to exploit scientific uncertainty. They may produce favorable scientific findings. In case of accident, the firm having this type of behavior can be legally charged. We then analyze whether liability rules and tort law incentive the firm both to invest in research and development in order to reduce the uncertainty and to decrease miscommunication on the results. We find that the firm's decision to stop or continue to sell its product depends on the levels of precision of the exogenous and of the endogenous information she receives, and on the ratio between marginal benefit and damages from maintaining the product in the future. We then understand that the firm's decision to adopt a lobby behavior depends on its expected payoff, its level of research, and its belief being sentenced when she has chosen to adopt a lobby behavior. Finally, we clarify the effect of the penal liability on the firm's investment in research decision. The level of the fine pushes the firm to reduce its uncertainty about the risk of accident. However, if she perceives that the risk of accident is high, its investment in research will decrease with the level of the fine for maintaining its expected payoff.

• Monday 10 February 2020 12:00-13:00

  salle R1-13, campus Jourdan - 75014 Paris

  MOLINA Hugo (INRAE) : Buyer Alliances in Vertically Related Markets - ANNULE

  Abstract

  Alliances of buyers to negotiate input prices with suppliers have become commonplace in many industries. Using pre- and post-alliances data on household purchases of bottled water, I develop a structural model of bilateral oligopoly to estimate the effects of buyer alliances formed by retailers on the bargaining power of firms and retail prices paid by consumers. Results provide evidence of a countervailing buyer power effect that reduces retail prices by roughly 7%. Exploring determinants of buyer power, I find that changes in firms’ bargaining ability play an important role in the countervailing force exerted by buyer alliances which, absent this effect, may harm retailers.

  Full text [pdf]

• Monday 3 February 2020 12:00-13:00

  salle R1-13, campus Jourdan - 75014 Paris

  FRANÇOIS Manon (PSE) : Profit shifting and destination-based taxes

  Abstract

  We study the impact of destination-based cash-flow taxation on tax competition and on adoption spillovers in a model with asymmetric countries. We build a model with endogenous tax rates and endogenous profit shifting in which countries choose between source-based and destination-based taxation. We find that tax competition is eliminated only if both countries use destination-based taxes and is reduced if one country unilaterally adopts destination-based taxes. We also find that countries do not have a clear incentive to be the first to adopt destination-based taxes but that a universal adoption is preferred to a unilateral adoption.

• Monday 16 December 2019 12:00-13:00

  salle R1-14, campus Jourdan - 75014 Paris

  LUENGO Andres (Pontificia Universidad Javeriana) : Environmental Misallocation in the Copper Industry

  Abstract

  We use mine-level data from the international copper industry to quantify environmental misallocation. We define this concept as the ratio between the observed carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the industry and the level reached by a social planner that allocate the observed output across mines so as to minimize emissions, conditional on the current state of the technology and some well-defined extraction rules. We find that CO2 emissions derived from the world copper industry could be reduced by 47% under the planner's allocation. We also find that the latter allocation of output would bring down production costs by 24% at the aggregate level. Our results suggest that a cleaner environment is not necessarily tied to lower levels of productive efficiency.

• Monday 9 December 2019

  THE ECONOMICS OF ENERGY TRANSITION

  Full text [pdf]

• Monday 2 December 2019 12:00-13:00

  salle R1-13, campus Jourdan - 75014 Paris

  SABATINO Lorien (Politecnico di Torino) : Fast Internet and Firm Creation: Evidence from Italy

  Abstract

  In this paper we provide new empirical evidence on the impact of ultra-fast broadband deployment on local growth, and in particular on local new business establishment. We leverage on a unique dataset collecting data on broadband coverage and firm creation for every Italian municipality over the period 2013-2018. Our identification strategy relies on the distance between municipalities and the closest telephone exchange with optical line terminal (OLT). Preliminary results show that OLS estimates are upward biased, as they overestimate the impact of ultra-fast broadband deployment on firm establishment. Results depend crucially on the industrial sector we consider: technology-intensive sectors such as ICT and scientific activities are strongly positively affected by the introduction of new broadband infrastructure, while more traditional sectors such as agriculture and manufacturing are not significantly affected by high-speed connections. Taken together, our results highlight the heterogeneous effects of new broadband technologies on local business establishment.

• Monday 25 November 2019 12:00-13:00

  salle R1-13, campus Jourdan - 75014 Paris

  DAUBANES Julien (University of Geneva (GSEM) and MIT (CEEPR)) : Green finance and climate policy

  Jean-Charles-Rochet: University of Geneva (SFI, GSEM) and MIT (Sloan)

  Abstract

  A rapidly increasing amount of investments commit firms to undertake climate-friendly projects. Recent empirical evidence shows that certified green bonds have a significant impact on CO2 emissions. Yet little is known about the economic mechanisms of green finance and its possible contribution to climate policy. This paper develops the first formal analysis of green finance as a climate policy instrument. We examine firms that undertake green and conventional projects, and finance the former through green bonds. Green projects emit less CO2, but they entail costs which stock investors do not directly observe. Our theory holds that green bonds allow firms to signal to stock investors their otherwise unobservable efficiency at controlling their CO2 emissions. Our model consistently accounts for stylized facts on the recent development of green finance. It explains why firms benefit from green bonds even though these bonds' yield spread is small in practice compared to conventional bonds. The analysis has direct implications for the effective design of climate policy. Like carbon taxation, green finance induces firms to undertake more green projects at the expense of conventional ones. It may further amplify the effect of carbon taxation. Moreover, unlike standard voluntary programs, green finance induces firms to abandon their least efficient conventional projects.

• Monday 21 October 2019 12:00-13:00

  salle R1-13, campus Jourdan - 75014 Paris

  RUIZ Celia (PSE) : Agglomeration, Transport and Productivity: Evidence from Toulouse Metropolitan Area

  Abstract

  Economic activity tends to be highly concentrated. These agglomeration or concentration forms are driven by spatial externalities on productivity, and are named agglomeration externalities. Transport improvements - by reducing the interaction cost between economic agents placed in different locations - can extend the geographic scope of these externalities on productivity. Furthermore, transport exposure also affects productivity directly as it may bring firm and employee relocations by making some places more attractive than others. Therefore, the objective of this paper is twofold. Firstly, to estimate the extent of agglomeration externalities at the urban scale, and secondly, to estimate the - direct and indirect - impact of transport exposure on productivity, using very fine georeferenced data on the road and public transport networks, and on more than one million employees working in a number of heterogeneous zones within Toulouse metropolitan area. This constitutes a valuable input for an urban planner who wants to maximize city’s wealth by identifying the disaggregated productivity impact of new transport infrastructure. To achieve these goals, we first estimate productivity effects of agglomeration and transport measures implementing a wage determination model using very disaggregated and georeferenced data of a sample of employees working in Toulouse in 2013 and 2015. We perform a two stage estimation approach (Combes et al. (2008)). The first stage of the regression allows us to assess the importance of industry effects and sector concentration characteristics against those highlighting true productivity differences across zones. In the second stage of the regression, we explain those productivity differences across zones - represented by the estimated first stage’s area-year fixed effects – by our local factors of interest: local employment density, and local transport exposure measures. Finally, and to have a full representation of transport impacts, we investigate the effect of transport exposure on local employment density. Our results suggest that out transport exposure measures have a substantial and significant effect on local productivity and local employment density.

• Monday 14 October 2019 12:00-13:00

  salle R1-13, campus Jourdan - 75014 Paris

  NEWMAN Andy (Boston University) : Competing for a Quiet Life: An Organizational Theory of Market Structure

  Patrick Legros, Zsolt Udvari

  Abstract

  We develop a property-rights model of endogenous market structure in which contracting imperfections, rather than scale economies, emerge as the source of market power. Production of a homogenous good is carried out by substitutable, incentive-constrained teams that can stand alone as perfect competitors or sell their assets to profit-motivated HQs, thereby becoming subordinate members of their firms. HQs subsequently Cournot compete in the product market. Team output and costs aggregate linearly within and across firms, there are no diseconomies of HQ ownership, and HQs are abundant. A fundamental hold-out problem places lower and upper bounds on the degree of concentration. The equilibrium market structure is typically an oligopoly, sometimes with a competitive fringe. Concentration may increase with the size of the market, unlike in the standard Cournot entry model. Entry barriers and competition policy may have distinct effects depending on the demand regime, which has implications for optimal policy in rich vs. developing countries.

• Monday 7 October 2019 12:00-13:00

  salle R1-13, campus Jourdan - 75014 Paris

  LISKI Matti (Aalto University) : Do consumers gain when new technologies improve the efficiency of goods trade?

  Ivo Vehviläinen

  Abstract

  This paper points out the basic price theory predictions for the consumer welfare gain from new technologies that improve the efficiency of goods trade. Micro-data on over 140 million of bids from three electricity markets reveals strikingly different consumer welfare impacts from new technologies. Consistent with the theory, the results can be explained by structural differences in excess demand: its convexity (concavity) is a determinant of consumers’ gain (loss).

  Full text [pdf]

• Monday 30 September 2019 12:00-13:00

  salle R1-13, campus Jourdan - 75014 Paris

  REILEY David (University of California - Berkeley) : Measuring Consumer Sensitivity to Audio Advertising:A Field Experiment on Pandora Internet Radio

  Jason Huang, Nickolai M. Riabov

  Abstract

  Measuring Consumer Sensitivity to Audio Advertising:A Field Experiment on Pandora Internet RadioJason HuangDavid H. ReileyNickolai M. Riabov?April 21, 2018AbstractA randomized experiment with almost 35 million Pandora listeners enables us to measure the sensi-tivity of consumers to advertising, an important topic of study in the era of ad-supported digital contentprovision. The experiment randomized listeners into nine treatment groups, each of which received adifferent level of audio advertising interrupting their music listening, with the highest treatment groupreceiving more than twice as many ads as the lowest treatment group. By keeping consistent treatmentassignment for 21 months, we are able to measure long-run demand effects, with three times as muchad-load sensitivity as we would have obtained if we had run a month-long experiment. We estimatea demand curve that is strikingly linear, with the number of hours listened decreasing linearly in thenumber of ads per hour (also known as the price of ad-supported listening). We also show the negativeimpact on the number of days listened and on the probability of listening at all in the final month. Us-ing an experimental design that separately varies the number of commercial interruptions per hour andthe number of ads per commercial interruption, we find that neither makes much difference to listenersbeyond their impact on the total number of ads per hour. Lastly, we find that increased ad load causesa significant increase in the number of paid ad-free subscriptions to Pandora, particularly among olderlisteners.

  Full text [pdf]

• Monday 23 September 2019 12:00-13:00

  salle R1-13, campus Jourdan - 75014 Paris

  SCHUTZ Nicolas (University of Manheim) : All-Pay Oligopolies: Price Competition with Unobservable Inventory Choices

  Joao Montez

  Abstract

  We study production-in-advance in a setting where firms first source inventories that remain unobservable to rivals, and then simultaneously set prices. In the unique equilibrium, each firm occasionally holds a sale relative to its reference price, resulting in firms sometimes being left with unsold inventory. In the limit as inventory costs become fully recoverable, the equilibrium converges to an equilibrium of the game where firms only choose prices and produce to order - the associated Bertrand game (examples of such games include fully-asymmetric clearinghouse models). Thus, away from that limit, our work generalizes Bertrand-type equilibria to production in advance, and challenges the commonly-held view associating production in advance with Cournot outcomes. The analysis involves, as an intermediate step, mapping the price-inventory game into an asymmetric all-pay contest with outside options and non-monotonic winning and losing functions. We lay out applications to taxation, merger analysis, information sharing, ex-ante investments, and vertical relations.

  Full text [pdf]

• Monday 16 September 2019 12:00-13:00

  salle R1-13, camppus Jourdan - 75014 Paris

  MANARESI Francesco (Bank of Italy) : Born in Hard Times: Startups and Intangible Capital During the Financial Crisis

  Abstract

  We show that the credit crunch of 2007-2013 favoured the adoption by startups of more efficient, intangible-intensive technologies. Using data for the universe of Italian corporations, we document that the cohorts of firms born during the crisis significantly increased their share of intangible capital relative to both incumbents and comparable young firms born before the crisis. Moreover, the entry rates of intangible-intensive startups decreased by less than those of other firms. We estimate that this selection is directly linked to the tightening of credit conditions. We use a firm dynamics model to unveil the mechanism behind these patterns. Intangible goods make firms more efficient and profitable, reducing their demand of total capital and, crucially, their leverage at entry: this increases their resiliency to a financial shock. In the aggregate, a credit tightening changes the composition of new cohorts in favor of intangible-intensive producers, resulting in a persistent increase in their intangible capital accumulation.

• Monday 24 June 2019 12:00-13:00

  salle R1-13, campus Jourdan - 75014 Paris

  PARENTI Mathieu (Université Libre de Bruxelles) : Sales and Markup Dispersion: Theory and Empirics

  Monika Mrazova and J. Peter Neary

  Abstract

  We characterize the analytic relationship between the distributions of two variables linked by a structural model. We then highlight four theoretical applications to models of heterogeneous firms in monopolistic competition. First, we ask which demand func- tions are consistent with productivity and sales distributions having the same form (whether Pareto, lognormal, or Fr ?echet) in the cross section. The answer is a new “CREMR” demand function (Constant Revenue Elasticity of Marginal Revenue). Sec- ond, we show that CREMR is also necessary and sufficient for Gibrat’s Law to hold over time. Third, we use our methodology to quantify misallocation at the microeco- nomic level (both in general and in the special CREMR case). Fourth, we characterize the distribution of markups implied by any assumptions on demand and productivity. Finally, we show in an empirical application using Indian firm-level data on sales and markups that CREMR-based distributions yield a parsimonious fit superior to many widely-used alternatives.

  Full text [pdf]

• Monday 27 May 2019 12:00-13:00

  salle R1-13, campus Jourdan - 75014 Paris

  KALKUHL Matthias (University of Potsdam) : The Impact of Climate Conditions on Economic Production. Evidence from a Global Panel of Regions

  Wenz Leonie

  Abstract

  We estimate the impacts of climate on economic growth using Gross Regional Product (GRP) for more than 1,500 regions in 77 countries. In temperate and tropical climates, annual temperature shocks reduce GRP whereas they increase GRP in cold climates. With respect to long-term climate conditions, one degree of temperature increase reduces output by 2-3%. The effect of annual or long-term precipitation is found to be less important and less robust among specifications. For projected global warming of 4°C until 2100, we find that regions lose 9\% of economic output on average and more than 20% of output in tropical regions.

  Full text [pdf]

• Monday 20 May 2019 12:00-13:00

  salle R1-13, campus Jourdan - 75014 Paris

  BIANCINI Sara (Université de Cergy) : Mission Drift in Microcredit: A Contract Theory Approach

  David Ettinger, Baptiste Venet

  Abstract

  We analyze the relationship between Micro nance Institutions (MFIs) and external funding institutions, with the aim of contributing to the debate on mission drift (the tendency for MFIs to lend money to wealthier borrower rather than to the very poor). We suggest that funding institutions build incentives for MFIs to choose the adequate share of poorer borrowers and to exert effort to increase the quality of the funded projects. We show that asymmetric information on both the effort level and its cost may increase the share of richer borrowers. However the unobservability of the cost of effort has an ambiguous effect. It pushes efficient MFIs to serve a higher share of poorer borrowers, while less efficient ones decrease their poor outreach. JEL codes: O12, O16, G21. Keywords: Micro nance, Funding Institutions, Mission Drift, Contract Theory.

• Monday 13 May 2019 12:00-13:00

  salle R1-13, campus Jourdan - 75014 Paris

  LEROUTIER Marion (PSE) : Carbon Pricing and Power Sector Decarbonisation: Evidence from the UK

  Abstract

  The electricity and heat generation sector represents about 40 % of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in 2016. Policy-makers have implemented a variety of instru- ments to decarbonise their power sector. This paper examines the UK Carbon Price Floor (CPF), a novel carbon pricing instrument implemented in the United Kingdom in 2013. After describing the potential mechanisms behind the recent UK power sector decarbonisation, I apply the synthetic control method on country-level data to estimate the impact of the CPF on per capita emissions. I discuss the importance of potential confounders and the amount of net electricity imports imputable to the policy. De- pending on the speci_cation, the abatement associated with the introduction of the CPF range from 104 to 156 millions tons of equivalent CO2 over the 2013-2017 period. This implies a reduction of between 39% and 48% of total power sector emissions by 2017. Several placebo tests suggest that these estimates capture a causal impact. This paper shows that a carbon levy on high-emitting inputs used for electricity generation can lead to successful decarbonisation.

• Monday 6 May 2019 12:00-13:00

  salle R1-13, campus Jourdan, 75014 Paris

  FABRE Brice (IPP) : Can We Reconcile French People with the Carbon Tax? Disentangling Beliefs from Preferences

  Thomas Douenne

  Abstract

  Using anewsurvey and National households’surveydata, we investigate French perception over carbon taxation. We find that French people largely reject a tax and dividend policy where revenues of the tax would be redistributed uniformly. However, their perception about the properties of the tax are biased: people overestimate the negative impact on their purchasing power, wrongly think the scheme is regressive, and do no tperceive it as environmentally effective. Our econometric analysis shows that correcting these three bias would suffice to generate majority acceptance. Yet, we find that people’s beliefs are persistent and their revisions biased towards pessimism, so that only few can be convinced.

  Full text [pdf]

• Monday 15 April 2019 12:00-13:00

  salle R1-13, campus Jourdan - 75014 Paris

  CALZOLARI Giacomo (European University Institute) : Artificial Intelligence, Algorithmic Pricing and Collusion

  Emilio Calvano,Vincenzo Denicolò and Sergio Pastorello

  Abstract

  Pricing algorithms are increasingly replacing human decision making in real marketplaces. To inform the competition policy debate on possible consequences, we run experiments with pricing algorithms powered by Artificial Intelligence in controlled environments (computer simulations). In particular, we study the interaction among a number of Q-learning algorithms in the context of a workhorse oligopoly model of price competition with Logit demand and constant marginal costs. We show that the algorithms consistently learn to charge supra-competitive prices, without communicating with each other. The high prices are sustained by classical collusive strategies with a finite punishment phase followed by a gradual return to cooperation. This finding is robust to asymmetries in cost or demand and to changes in the number of players.

  Full text [pdf]

• Monday 8 April 2019 12:00-13:00

  salle R1-13, campus Jourdan - 75014 Paris

  KASSAB Dina (University of Cairo) : Agree to Disagree ? Making sense of vagueness in International Environmental Agreements

  Abstract

  International Environmental Agreements (IEA) tend to bear a high degree of vagueness. They are expressed in terms of levels of standards, with a permitted degree of discretion to the signatories, rather than a specific policy commitment. Why would negotiators craft vague agreements that risk non-compliance ? Using a game-theoretic model, where information regarding institutional capacities of potential participants is asymmetric, I argue that vagueness offers the ability to manage uncertainty over policy outcomes. In doing so, I contribute to the theory of international environmental agreements, which has overwhelmingly assumed non-compliance to be observable and non-enforcement to be punishable. By also incorporating countries ratification decisions, this paper makes several important contributions : it contributes to a more realistic modeling of the treaty formation, it endogenizes the number of participants as well as their characteristics and it identifies the determinants of the optimal level of ambiguity in designing an IEA.

• Monday 1 April 2019 12:00-13:00

  salle R1-13, campus Jourdan, 75014 Paris

  DECAROLIS Francesco (University of Unibocconi) : From Mad Men to Maths Men: Concentration and Buyer Power in Online Advertising

  Gabriele Rovigatti

  Abstract

  This paper analyzes the impact of intermediaries concentration on the allocation of revenues in online platforms. We study sponsored search - the sale ad space on search engines through online auctions - documenting how advertisers increasingly bid through an handful of specialized intermediaries. This enhances automated bidding and data pooling, but lessens competition whenever the intermediary represents com- peting advertisers. Using data on nearly 40 million Google’s keyword-auctions, we first apply machine learning algorithms to cluster keywords into thematic groups serving as relevant markets. Then, through an instrumental variable strategy, we quantify a negative and sizeable impact of intermediaries’ concentration on platform’s revenues.

• Monday 25 March 2019 12:00-13:00

  salle R1-13, campus Jourdan, 75014 Paris

  MARTINEZ-ZARZOSO Inma (University of Göttingen) : Searching for Grouped Patterns of Heterogeneity in the Climate-Migration Link

  Abstract

  This paper investigates the extent to which international migration can be explained by climate change and whether this relationship varies systematically between groups of countries. The primary focus is to further investigate the differential effect found for countries with different income levels using a high-frequency migration dataset and allowing the country-grouping to be data-driven. For this purpose, the main results of this paper are based on the group-mean fixed-effects (GFE) estimator proposed by Bonhomme and Manresa (2015), which allows us to group the countries of origin according to the data generating process. The results indicate that on average, increasing average temperatures are associated with an increase in emigration rates, but that the pattern differs between groups. The relationship is driven by a group of countries mainly located in sub-Saharan Africa and Central Asia. No statistically significant association is found between average local precipitation and emigration.

• Monday 18 March 2019 12:00-13:00

  salle R1-13, campus Jourdan, 75014 Paris

  BECERRA VALBUENA Luis : Do local ENSO events affect air quality and health in Bogotá ?

  Professor Jorge

  Abstract

  We aim to analyze if, for the case of Bogota, the ENSO events (El Niño and la Niña) have an effect on health via weather and air quality. To our knowledge, no one seems to have investigated further the ENSO events on weather, how this relates with the concentration of air pollutants and the impact it could have on health outcomes. The question seems more relevant now as an increase in intensity and frequency of El Niño phenomena are expected in the coming years (see chapter 3 of last report Global Warming of 1.5 Celsius degrees the Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change). The paper is purely empirical and uses a large database for a period running from 1997 to 2015 for different stations measuring pollutants as well as meteorological and weather variables along the city. The data are rich (by day and hour in many cases) and allow to do a unique analysis. Information of health outcomes come from a data-set of health centers along the city, with information of respiratory and cardiovascular diseases between 2012 to 2015. Information of births and deaths (weight at birth, height at birth, weeks of gestation, etc) is available from 1997 to 2015. Information of the ENSO events is publicly available by month since 1950. As a first step, we have estimated the effects of ENSO events on weather and on pollutants hour by hour, using those phenomena as a quasi-experiment; this has allowed us to understand better at which time of the day, weather and pollutant factors are highly or less affected by ENSO events. In terms of weather, the effect goes in the expected direction, with higher temperature in El Niño and higher rain in La Niña. However, the effects on weather variables tend to be higher during La Niña than during El Niño, and in both cases, the maximum effects happen during the afternoon peak, in comparison with the morning. In terms of pollution, El Niño brings higher temperatures, and pollutants such as particulate matter and CO increase during these events, in peak hours. However, La Niña brings more rain which could help to clean those contaminants. Importantly, peak hours of transport matter to increase pollution, and ENSO events are more relevant during this time. The hours of the day when the effects are more important should be considered in the health equation. The step to follow will be to test the potential effects this could have on health costs, and to estimate the economic cost of these phenomena (on QUALYS-DALYS).

• Monday 11 March 2019 12:00-13:00

  salle R1-13, campus Jourdan - 75014 Paris

  VONA Francesco (Sciences Po) : The Impact of Energy Prices on Employment and Environmental

  Abstract

  This paper evaluates the influence of energy prices on employment and environmental performance of French manufacturing establishments over the period of 1997-2015. To identify price effects, we construct a shift-share instrument that captures only the exogenous variation in establishment-specifi c energy prices. Our results highlight a trade-off between environmental and economic goals: an increase in energy prices brings about not only substantial reductions in energy consumption and CO2 emissions, but also modestly negative impacts on employment and productivity. This trade-off will be ampli fied by a carbon tax, especially in trade-intensive and energy-intensive sectors. Finally, employment effects are not biased against unskilled workers and are mitigated by labor reallocation across establishments within the same company.

• Monday 25 February 2019 12:00-13:00

  salle R1-13, campus Jourdan - 75014 Paris

  GERLAGH Reyer (University of Tilburg) : Family Planning and Climate Change

  Abstract

  Historical data show that the increase in emissions is for only one-fourth attributable to the growth of emissions per person, whereas three-fourths are due to the growth of population. This striking evidence notwithstanding, the majority of climate-economic studies focus on emissions through the lens of energy externalities in production and consumption activities, and on policies to correct these. Population dynamics in those models is typically taken to follow exogenous trends. Yet population growth is a key component of projections of future emissions. Population is expected to rise to around 9.8 billion by 2050, and climate economists must include the environmental consequences of individuals' reproductive decisions into their analyses. In this paper, we study the interactions between climate change and population dynamics. We develop an analytical model of endogenous fertility and embed it in a calibrated climate-economy model. The social optimum can be implemented through carbon pricing policies and policies aiming at smaller families. Population without family planning policies peaks at 12 billion, while optimal family planning brings the peak back to 9 billion. If family planning cannot be addressed as a separate policy instrument for climate policies, carbon taxes need to be lowered. Our results present family planning as an integral part of climate policies and quantify the costs of neglecting the interaction.

• Monday 18 February 2019 12:00-13:00

  salle R1-13, campus Jourdan - 75014 Paris

  WANG Olivier (NYU Stern) : Identification and Estimation of Demand for Bundles

  Alessandro Iaria

  Abstract

  We study the identification and estimation of a mixed logit model of demand for bundles. We generalize the model proposed by Gentzkow (2007) in three ways. First, we allow the demand synergies among products (capturing complementarity and substitutability) to be bundle-individual specific and treated as random coefficients. Second, we allow the joint distribution of the random coefficients to belong to any parametric family. Third, our arguments are not specific to the three-bundle case but are directly developed for choice sets of any size. We propose sufficient conditions for identification and for lack of it. Our sufficient conditions for identification also guarantee consistency and asymptotic normality of a constrained MLE (MPEC) that alleviates the curse of dimensionality inherent in estimation, and it is robust to both price endogeneity and sampling error in the observed market shares. We use our methods to investigate the welfare implications of mixed bundling pricing in the ready-to-eat cereal industry in the USA. The profit gains of mixed bundling pricing with respect to pure components pricing are sharply decreasing in the level of competition: while a monopolist would benefit from mixed bundling, the observed oligopoly would not—even ignoring potential increases in logistics costs. Given any market structure, mixed bundling leads to lower levels of consumer surplus than pure components.

• Monday 11 February 2019 12:00-13:00

  R1-13, campus Jourdan - 75014 Paris

  RAUSCHER Michael (University of Rostock) : Demographic Change and Climate Change

  Abstract

  The paper uses a continuous-time overlapping-generations model with endogenous growth and pollution accumulation over time to study the link between longevity and global warming. It is seen that increasing longevity accelerates climate change in a business-as-usual scenario without climate policy. If a binding emission target is set exogenously and implemented via a cap-and-trade system, the price of emission permits is increasing in longevity. Longevity has no effect on the optimal solution of the climate problem if perfect intergenerational transfers are feasible. If these transfers are absent, the impact of longevity is ambiguous.

• Monday 4 February 2019 12:00-13:00

  salle R1-13, campus Jourdan - 75014 Paris

  STERN Lennart (PSE) : *

• Monday 10 December 2018 12:00-13:00

  salle R1-13, campus Jourdan - 75014 Paris

  TAYLOR Scott (University of Calgary) : Is Free Trade Good for Resources - Labellisé par les Assises de la recherche de l'Université Paris 1

• Monday 3 December 2018 12:00-13:00

  salle R1-13, campus Jourdan, 75014 Paris

  POZZI Andrea (EIEF) : The Cost of Steering in Financial Markets: Evidence from the Mortgage Market

  Leonardo Gambacorta, Luigi Guiso, Paolo Mistrulli and Anton Tsoy

  Abstract

  Many households lack sophistication required to make complex financial decisions and can be steered by intermediaries to certain financial products via informative or distorted advice, advertisement, shrouding, etc. We build a model of the mortgage market in which banks attain their optimal mortgage portfolio by both setting rates and steering their clientele. “Sophisticated” households know which mortgage type is best for them; “naive” are susceptible to bank’s steering. Using data on the universe of Italian mortgages, we estimate the model and quantify the welfare implications of steering in this market. The average cost of the distortion is equivalent to an increase in the annual mortgage payment by 11%. However, since steering often also conveys information about mortgages, restricting steering results in a loss of 998 euros per year on average. A financial literacy campaign is beneficial for naive households, but hurts sophisticated ones.

• Monday 26 November 2018 12:00-13:00

  salle R1-13, campus Jourdan - 75014 Paris

  SOMANATHAN Eswaran (Indian Statistical Institute) : The Impact of Temperature on Productivity and Labor Supply: Evidence from Indian Manufacturing

  Rohini Somanathan, Anant Sudarshan, and Meenu Tewari

  Abstract

  Hotter years are associated with lower economic output in country-level data. We show that the effect of temperature on labor is an important part of the explanation. Using high-frequency micro data from selected firms in India, we find that worker productivity on hot days declines by 2 to 4 percent per degree celsius. Sustained heat also increases worker absenteeism. Using a national panel of manufacturing plants, we find similar temperature effects on output and show that these can be fully accounted for by reductions in the productivity of labor. Estimated effect sizes are consistent with studies that rely on country GDP panels.

  Full text [pdf]

• Monday 19 November 2018 12:00-13:00

  salle R1-13, campus Jourdan, 75014 Paris

  TREICH Nicolas (TSE) : An economic model of the meat paradox

  N. Hestermann et Y. Le Yaouanq

  Abstract

  How can individuals care about animals and, at the same time, eat meat? We design a survey study to explore this \meat paradox. Survey participants (N = 3054) underestimate farm animal suffer- ing, and underestimate it more (i.e., are less realistic) when they eat more meat. Building on the literature on cognitive dissonance, we develop a model in which individuals form self-serving beliefs in order to reduce the moral guilt associated with meat consumption. The model characterizes how individuals' beliefs about animal wel- fare and their attitude towards information are affected by the eco- nomic environment (e.g., price of meat, salience of animal welfare), and by individuals' preferences (e.g., taste for meat, moral cost of guilt). Several empirical observations are consistent with our model.

  Full text [pdf]

• Monday 12 November 2018 12:00-13:00

  salle R1-13, campus Jourdan - 75014 Paris

  VANDENBUSSCHE Hylke (KU Leuven) : Input reallocation in Multi-product Firms

  C. Viegelahn

  Abstract

  This paper documents the within firm reallocation of inputs and outputs as a result of a trade policy shock on the input side. A unique firm-input level dataset for India with information on different raw material inputs used in production, enables us to identify firms with imported inputs subject to trade policy. To guide the empirics, we first develop a back-bone model of heterogeneous firms that source inputs from abroad. We find that affected firms engage in input reallocation and lower their use of protected inputs by 25-40%, relative to other inputs. Especially large firms and multi-output firms skew their input use towards unprotected inputs. To identify the output reallocation ensuing trade protection on inputs, we develop a firm level input-output correspondence. Firms reduce their sales of outputs made of protected inputs, resulting in an annual aggregate manufacturing output growth loss for India of around 10%. We find a firm level decrease in markups, suggesting that the cost of imported inputs is only partially passed through to output prices. Thus, this paper documents a new channel through which trade protection negatively impacts input-using firms.

• Monday 5 November 2018 12:00-13:00

  salle R1-13, campus Jourdan - 75014 Paris

  DELMAS Magali (Maggie) (UCLA) : Sustainable Practices and Wine Quality: Is there value in Certification?

  Olivier Gergaud

  Abstract

  More and more wineries are using third-party eco-certification, such as organic or biodynamic certification, to communicate their sustainable practices. At the same time some wineries are adopting sustainable practices without third party certification. In France for example, some wineries self-proclaim themselves "Viticulture Raisonnée" (reasoned viticulture), a flexible approach to sustainability devoid of the rigidity of third party certification. The presence of these different sustainable practices raises the question of their comparative value. While previous research estimates that third party eco-certification leads to increased quality as evaluated by experts, it is unknown whether non-certified sustainable practices are also associated with quality improvements. Evaluating the impact of non-certified sustainability practices on quality is challenging due to the difficulty of identifying such practices. In this paper, we use French data on experts' quality ratings from Gault Millau, Gilbert Gaillard and Bettane Desseauve, to compare the ratings of self-proclaimed sustainable wines to third party eco-certified wines and conventional wines. A total of 140,690 wines is analyzed. Preliminary findings based on different matching techniques indicate that self-proclaimed sustainable wines are of lower quality than conventional wines, while eco-certified wines are of higher quality than conventional wines. This suggest that non certified practices could be associated with greenwashing. JEL Classification: L15, L66; Q5

• Monday 22 October 2018 12:00-13:00

  salle R1-13, campus Jourdan - 75014 Paris

  DOUENNE Thomas : Disaster risks, disaster strikes and economic growth: the role of preferences

  Abstract

  This paper studies the role of preferences on the link between disasters and growth. An endogenous growth model with disasters is presented in which one can derive closed-form solutions with nonexpected utility. The model distinguishes disaster risks and disaster strikes and highlights the numerous mechanisms through which they may affect growth. It is shown that separating aversion to risk from the elasticity of inter-temporal substitution bears critical qualitative implications that enable to better understand these mechanisms. In a calibration of the model, it is shown that for standard parameter values, the additional restriction imposed by the time-additive expected utility can also lead to substantial quantitative bias regarding optimal risk-mitigation policies and growth. The paper thus calls for a wider use of non-expected utility in the modeling of disasters, in particular with respect to environmental disasters and climate change.

  Full text [pdf]

• Monday 15 October 2018 12:00-13:00

  salle R1-13, campus Jourdan - 75014 Paris

  MILLOCK Katrin : The effect of flood risk information on property values around Paris

  Edwige Dubos-Paillard, University Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Géographie-cités) and Emmanuelle Lavaine, Montpellier University (CEEM)

  Abstract

  The paper examines the effect of information about flood zone location on property prices in the region around Paris, France, over the period 2002 to 2012. We use unique data on real estate transactions and geo-localised amenities from a major European city exploiting the different dates of implementation of special risk zoning regulation. Using an identification strategy based on a difference-in-difference specification, the results indicate that home prices for similar real estate are 3 to 7% lower when located in a flood risk zone, depending on the sub market (flats or houses), and the discount increases the higher is the flood risk designated by the regulation. The effect is attenuated for buyers coming from locations with previous flood events.

• Monday 8 October 2018 12:00-13:00

  salle R1-13, campus Jourdan - 75014 Paris

  TOIVANEN Otto (Aalto University) : Welfare effects of R&D support policies

  Tuomas Takalo & Tanja Tanayama

  Abstract

  We build a structural model of the R&D subsidy process incorporating externalities, fixed costs of R&D, and financial market imperfections. We estimate the model using project level R&D and subsidy data from Finland. We conduct a counterfactual analysis of an optimal R&D tax credit policy, the first and second best policies, and laissez-faire with no support and compare them to the subsidy policy used in Finland. We find that the optimal R&D tax credit rate is 0.24, which is lower than the observed average R&D subsidy rate (0.36). R&D participation does not vary across regimes. The R&D investments and spillovers generated by the optimal R&D tax credit and subsidy policies are significantly higher than under laissez-faire but smaller than in the first and second best. Neither tax credits nor subsidies improve welfare compared to laissez-faire.

• Monday 1 October 2018 12:00-13:00

  salle R1-13, campus Jourdan - 75014 Paris

  GOUEL Christophe (INRA) : The Crucial Role of International Trade in Adaptation to Climate Change

  Abstract

  Climate change effects on agricultural yields will be uneven over the world with a few countries, mostly in high latitudes, that may experience gains, while most will see average yield decrease. This paper aims at quantifying the role of international trade in attenuating the effects of climate change by allowing the expression of the new climate-induced pattern of comparative advantages. To do this, we develop a quantitative general equilibrium trade model where the representation of acreage and land use choices is inspired from modern Ricardian trade models but also consistent with theoretical and empirical literature on land use choices. The model is calibrated on spatially explicit information about potential yields before and after climate change coming from the agronomic literature. The results show that the climate-induced yield changes generate large price movements that incentivize adjustments in acreage and trade. The new trade pattern is very different from the current one showing the important role of trade flows in adapting to climate change. This is confirmed by large increased welfare losses from climate change when adjustments in trade flows are constrained.

  Full text [pdf]

• Monday 24 September 2018 12:00-13:00

  salle R1-13, campus Jourdan - 75014 Paris

  MARTIMORT David (PjSE) : Screening Contracts As A Barrier To Entry

  Jérôme Pouyet and Lars Stole

  Abstract

  We uncover how strategic and screening concerns interact in the design of ver- tical contracts under the threat of entry. We provide a rationale for the use of rebates, discounts and quantity requirements in a context with uncertainty on the fixed cost of entry, multi-unit demand and private information on the buyer’s prefer- ences. These key ingredients were missing from the extant literature. First, private information on the buyer’s tastes motivates the use of price discounts as screening devices as in any nonlinear pricing context. Yet, price discounts are modified by the threat of entry in subtle ways that depend on the contractual environments. Second, the buyer has a downward sloping demand and finds it sometimes optimal to split consumption between the incumbent and the entrant, with the proviso, con- sistent with most recent Antitrust cases, that the entrant, although more efficient, never serves the whole demand. Third, although it can be attractive on alloca- tive grounds, entry might not always be socially optimal because of uncertainty on the fixed cost of entry. We study two different scenarios. In the first one, the case of market-share contracts, the incumbent can design different nonlinear tariffs depending on whether the buyer also purchases from the entrant or not. In the second scenario, the incumbent can only offer a single nonlinear tariff and cannot distinguish whether the buyer also purchases from the entrant or not. Our analy- sis stresses properties of nonlinear prices that are specific to an entry context and that respond to the incumbent’s incentives to shift rent under the aforementioned contractual restrictions.

• Monday 11 June 2018 12:00-14:00

  Salle R1-13, Campus Jourdan, 48 boulevard Jourdan, 75014 Paris

  WAGNER Ulrich : THE CO-POLLUTION BENEFITS OF CLIMATE POLICY: EVIDENCE FROM THE EU EMISSIONS TRADING SCHEME

  with Laure B. de Preux

  Abstract

  Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are known to cause global climate change but no damage to the local environment. However, because CO2 is often jointly produced with other substances that pollute the environment, CO2 abatement may generate ancillary benefits, especially for human health. Previous research suggests that these co-benefits can offset a substantial share of the economic costs of mitigation policies. This paper conducts the first empirical test of this hypothesis in the context of the European Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) for CO2. The econometric analysis exploits comprehensive microdata on discharges of more than 90 different pollutants into air, water and soil, at more than 28,000 commercial installations in 31 European countries. It is found that the EU ETS decreased air releases of some pollutants while increasing water releases of other pollutants. Moreover, in some cases the patterns of spatial redistribution are strongly correlated with income, population size or age. The implications for the efficiency and environmental justice of the EU ETS are discussed.

• Monday 4 June 2018 12:00-14:00

  Salle R1-13, Campus Jourdan, 48 boulevard Jourdan, 75014 Paris

  JESSOE Katrina (UC Davis) : Gains from Water Markets: Micro-level Evidence on Agricultural Water Demand

  with Ellen Bruno

  Abstract

  This paper demonstrates that the establishment of well-functioning water markets may substantially mitigate the costs of drought. We develop a framework to model the costs of incomplete water regulation, and simulate the efficiency gains from water trading across the agricultural and urban sectors. Critical to this exercise are credible estimates of the price elasticity of demand for agricultural water. We use monthly panel data on well-level agricultural groundwater extraction in an area that charges volumetric rates for groundwater to estimate the elasticity. Demand is inelastic, with estimates ranging from -0.17 to -0.22. Our simulation suggests that in an agriculturally productive and dense urban area of California, a water market could have reduced the welfare impacts to residential users from the 2015 drought mandate by 60% from $83 million to $33.5 million. Water markets present a promising adaption strategy to climate change.

• Monday 28 May 2018 12:00-14:00

  Salle R1-13, Campus Jourdan, 48 boulevard Jourdan, 75014 Paris

  ELLISON Glenn (MIT) : A Model of Online Retail Recommendations

• Monday 16 April 2018 12:00-14:00

  Salle R1-13, Campus Jourdan, 48 boulevard Jourdan, 75014 Paris

  TRAEGER Christian (University of Oslo) : ACE – Analytic Climate Economy

  Abstract

  The paper develops an analytic integrated assessment model of climate change. It enhances our current understanding of climate policy and explains crucial relations to the broader audience. The model offers a novel framework to address climate change uncertainties. The analytic solution overcomes Bellman’s curse of dimensionality for a wide range of stochastic processes. I analyze the policy implications of the main climate uncertainties and show the different welfare implications of “objective” uncertainty, epistemological uncertainty, and anticipated learning. In contrast to earlier suggestions in the literature, uncertainty is not more relevant to climate change evaluation than discounting, but uncertainty makes the policy recommendations even more sensitive to the calibration of the discount rates and its individual components than under certainty. The present Analytic Climate Economy (ACE) is the first analytic model comprising all the components considered essential for quantitative policy advising.

• Monday 9 April 2018 12:00-14:00

  Salle R1-13, Campus Jourdan, 48 boulevard Jourdan, 75014 Paris

  GAGNEPAIN Philippe (Université Paris 1, PSE) : Market power and volatility in the airline industry

  With A. Belova, P. Gagnepain, et S. Gauthier

  Abstract

  In a strategic game where firms compete against each other, the set of rationalizable strategies for each player entails all the best responses to the other’s decisions. The theoretical litterature has suggested that the uniqueness of the rationalizable outcomes coincides with the Nash equilibrium of the game. This paper proposes an empirical test of the existence of the uniqueness of the Nash equilibrium in a Cournot oligopoly. We focus on the U.S. airline industry and develop a theoretical model of competition on each route. It is assumed that airlines are not always able to predict perfectly the behavior of the competitors which can result in multiplicity of rationalizable outcomes. Based on the supply and demand ingredients of our model, we construct a stability criterion which guarantees uniqueness. We conclude that more than 90% of the local markets observed in the U.S. airline industry have reached the unique possible Nash equilibrium. As a by-product, we also identify the main determinants which prevent firms from reaching an equilibrium. We show in particular that local markets which include a higher number of competitors are the ones where the quantity produced is more volatile.

• Monday 26 March 2018 12:00-14:00

  Salle R1-13, Campus Jourdan, 48 boulevard Jourdan, 75014 Paris

  ELLISON Sara (MIT) : Regulatory Distortion: Evidence from Uber’s Entry Decisions in the US

  Abstract

  There is a large and long-standing literature on the distortionary effects of regulations on the functioning of markets. A newer strand of this literature focuses on licensing regulations, such as state-specific licensing of teachers and hairdressers. We seek to add to this literature with the specific case of ride-hailing services, such as Uber. We assemble a new and comprehensive data set of 250 US cities and their regulations regarding hackney services. We specify a stylized profit model for Uber, which is a function of these regulations, and estimate the parameters of the profit function using observed Uber entry decisions into these cities. Our data set and empirical strategy allow us to estimate the differential effects of particular types of regulations, separating out regulations governing safety, governing operations, and erecting entry barriers. We find that safety regulations do not have a distortionary effect on the functioning of the market for hackney services and evading them does not increase Uber’s profits. We find evidence that Uber’s profits are increased, however, by their ability to evade regulatory entry barriers and regulations governing operations. In other words, those regulations do have a significant distortionary effect on the market. To the extent that safety-related regulations are welfare-enhancing and those erecting entry barriers are welfare-decreasing, our results suggest a welfare-enhancing effect of Uber’s entry.

• Monday 19 March 2018 12:00-14:00

  Salle R1-13, Campus Jourdan, 48 boulevard Jourdan, 75014 Paris

  MILLOCK Katrin : Accelerating diffusion of climate-friendly technologies: a network perspective

  MAYOL Alexandre (PSE, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne ) : Providing public utilities in a common agency framework: making, buying and governance

  with Solmaria Halleck Vega and Antoine Mandel

  Abstract

  Abstract 1: We introduce a methodology to estimate the determinants of the formation of technology diffusion networks from the patterns of technology adoption. We apply this methodology to wind energy, which is one of the key technologies for climate change mitigation. Technology diffusion occurs at the firm level, but it is influenced by policy and we study how policy affects network formation at a country level. Our results emphasize that long-term economic and trade relationships, as measured in particular by economic integration, are key determinants of technological diffusion. Specific support measures seem less relevant for the diffusion per se, although they might play a crucial role from an industrial perspective. Abstract 2: This article analyzes how the local political organization (in France, the level of the single municipality, the union of communes (Syndicats) or supermunicipality (communaut de communes) and the management mode (public or private) can influence the performance of the public service. The impact of these organizational configurations on costs has never been studied simultaneously by the literature. We first propose a theoretical model based on a principal-agent problem to analyze them together. Then, from a panel of French water services, we observe empirically that these different organizational ombinations have an impact on the price.

• Monday 5 March 2018 12:00-14:00

  Salle R1-13, Campus Jourdan, 48 boulevard Jourdan, 75014 Paris

  IOSSA Elisabetta (University of Rome Tor Vergata) : Project Choice and Innovation Policy: the case for Public Procurement

  with Alessandro De Chiara

  Abstract

  There is a long standing policy debate on the role and design of innovation policies. In this paper, we develop a model of project choice with competition for funding and compare: (i) A Demand-side approach, in which the public authority restricts the type of research project eligible for funding, with (ii) A Supply-side approach, in which the public authority chooses its preferred project among those submitted. The authority can verify the characteristics of the projects submitted by the firms, but does not know which other projects the firms have available. We compare the two approaches from the point of view of the authority and in terms of social welfare, considering both small projects which the firm could self-finance and larger projects which would not be implemented absent public funds. We identify under which conditions a Demand-side approach is preferable in terms of allocative efficiency and investment incentives.

• Monday 19 February 2018 12:00-14:00

  Salle R1-13, Campus Jourdan, 48 boulevard Jourdan, 75014 Paris

  CREPIN Anne-Sophie : Inertia in risk; improving economic models of catastrophes

  Eric Nævdal

  Abstract

  We provide a new way to model endogenous catastrophic risk termed inertia risk, which accounts for dynamic lags between physical variables and the hazard rate—a characteristic which is often observed in real life problems. For example the stock of some particular species in an ecosystem might influence the level of stress (or resilience) in that system, which is a slowly changing variable compared to the species dynamics. When the level of stress passes a critical threshold the ecosystem undertakes a regime shift, a rapid, substantial and persistent change in the system. In such context the inertia hazard rate defines the risk that the system will shift in the next period of time, which depends on both variables. We show that the added realism in our risk model has intuitive appeal and significantly impacts optimal solutions. With inertia risk, the probability that a catastrophe will ever occur may span the entire interval [0, 1]. This as opposed to the standard approach where this probability is either zero or one. We also show how inertia risk may generate path dependency as the hazard rate depends on learning about how risk is distributed in state space. We illustrate the implications for policy in a simple model ­­of climate change. The optimal solution with inertia depends on parameters, such as damage and discount rates in a qualitatively different way compared to the standard approach. Hence for problems with lagged effects, where inertia risk is a more realistic way to represent risk, using the standard models of catastrophic risk that discard these lagged effects could generate substantially flawed policy recommendations.

• Monday 12 February 2018 12:00-14:00

  Salle R1-13, Campus Jourdan, 48 boulevard Jourdan, 75014 Paris

  FODHA Mouez (Université Paris 1, PSE) : Environmental Tax Reform under debt constraint

  COLO Philippe (PSE) : Uncertainty in environmental agreements

  Abstract

  This article analyzes the impacts of Environmental Tax Reform (ETR) when the government is constrained not to increase the public debt-to-output ratio. We consider an overlapping generations model with pollution. Public spending for pollution abatement are …nanced by tax revenues and public debt. We show that keeping constant the public debt-output ratio is not an obstacle to attain a double dividend, i.e. an increase of both (i) environmental quality and (ii) aggregate consumption. First, if the capital stock is low and the pollution abatement is large enough, a successful ETR consists in a rise of the environmental tax, compensated by a decrease of the income tax. Secondly, we show that the environmental tax revenues may help reduce the public debt-output ratio. We give conditions (on the initial level of the environmental tax and the debt-output ratio) such that an increase of the environmental tax, budget-balanced by a decrease of the debt-output ratio may also achieve a double dividend. We conclude that public debt crisis should not compromise ETR, instead, environmental tax revenues could be part of the solution.

• Monday 5 February 2018 12:00-14:00

  Salle R1-13, Campus Jourdan, 48 boulevard Jourdan, 75014 Paris

  BEZIN Emeline : The Economics of Green Consumption, Cultural Transmission and Sustainable Technological Change.

  Abstract

  A model shows that systematic interactions between green consumer culture and sustainable technologies can give rise to path dependency in sustainable innovation processes. The theory includes (i) green preferences formed through cultural transmission which involves rational socialization actions, (ii) innovation endogenously directed to sustainable or unsustainable sectors depending on culture through market size effects. When interactions between green culture and technology are strong enough, the dynamics exhibits complementarities resulting in path dependency. Two long-term outcomes emerge. A green equilibrium (with strong green culture and an environmentally benign technology), a brown equilibrium (with weak green culture and a pollution-intensive technology). The model has important implications for the cost of environmental policies. Moreover, the theory enables the study of an important disregarded issue, i.e., the political sustainability of environmental taxes.

• Monday 22 January 2018 12:00-14:00

  Salle R1-13, Campus Jourdan, 48 boulevard Jourdan, 75014 Paris

  LEGROS Patrick : Come Together Now — Firm Boundaries and Delegation

• Monday 15 January 2018 12:00-14:00

  DOUENNE THOMAS ( UNIVERSITÉ PARIS 1 PANTHÉON SORBONNE) ET Nunez Thais (Univ. d'Orléans) (PSE) : The vertical and horizontal distributive effects of energy taxes: A micro-simulation study of a French policy

• Monday 8 January 2018 12:00-14:00

  Salle R1-13, Campus Jourdan, 48 boulevard Jourdan, 75014 Paris

  COULOMB Renaud (University of Melbourne) : Rare Events and Risk Perception: Evidence from the Fukushima Accident

  Yanos Zylberberg

  Abstract

  We study changes in nuclear-risk perception following the Fukushima nuclear accident of March 2011. Using an exhaustive registry of individual housing transactions in England and Wales between 2007 and 2014, we implement a difference-in-difference strategy and compare housing prices in at-risk areas to areas further away from nuclear sites before and after the Fukushima incident. We find a persistent price decrease of about 3.5% in response to the accident for properties in the neighbourhood of nuclear plants. As the UK immediately extended the life duration of most nuclear plants, the price decrease is primarily driven by a change in nuclear-risk perception. However, we find large heterogeneity among at-risk neighbourhoods, and we explore how such heterogeneity can relate to existing productive and consumptive amenities.

• Wednesday 13 December 2017 12:30-14:00

  Salle R2-21, Campus Jourdan, 48 boulevard Jourdan, 75014 Paris

  MA Albert (Boston University) : Uterus at a Price: Disability Insurance and Hysterectomy

  Abstract

  Taiwanese Labor, Government Employee, and Farmer Insurance programs provide 5-6 months of salary to enrollees who undergo hysterectomy or oophorectomy before their 45th birthday. These programs result in more and earlier treatments, referred as, respectively, inducement and timing effects. Difference-indifference and nonparametric methods are used to estimate these effects on surgery hazards between 1997 and 2011. For Government Employee and Labor Insurance, inducement is 11-12% of all hysterectomies, and timing 20% of inducement. For oophorectomy, both effects are insignificant. Induced hysterectomies increase benefit payments and surgical costs, at about the cost of a mammogram and 5 pap smears per enrollee.

• Monday 4 December 2017 12:00-14:00

  Salle R1-15, Campus Jourdan, 48 boulevard Jourdan, 75014 Paris

  SCHUMACHER Ingmar : Mitigation strategies when faced with the threat of solar radiation management

• Monday 27 November 2017 12:00-14:00

  Salle R2-01, Campus Jourdan, 48 boulevard Jourdan, 75014 Paris

  CASSI Lorenzo (Université Paris 1, PSE) : Mergers and inventive activities in the pharmaceutical sector

  with Carmine Ornaghi (University of Southampton)

• Monday 20 November 2017 12:00-13:30

  Salle R2-01, Campus Jourdan, 48 boulevard Jourdan, 75014 Paris

  DUSO Tomaso (DIW (Berlin) ) : The Effect of Retail Mergers on Prices and Variety: An Ex-post Evaluation

  Elena Argentesi, Paolo Buccirossi, Roberto Cervone, Alessia Marrazzo

  Abstract

  Astract We use an original dataset on Dutch supermarkets to assess the effect of a merger that was conditionally approved by the Dutch Competition Authority (ACM) on prices and on the depth of assortment. We adopt a difference-in-differences strategy that exploits local variation in the merger's effects and we further control for selection on observables when defining our control group. We find that the merger did not affect individual products' prices but it led the merging parties to reposition their assortment and increase average category prices. While the low-quality target stores reduced the depth of their assortment when in direct competition with the acquirer's stores, the latter increased their product variety. By analyzing the effect of the merger on category prices, we find that the target most likely dropped high price products, while the acquirer added more of them. These findings suggests that the merging firms reposition their product offerings in order to avoid cannibalization and lessen local competition. We further show that other dimensions of heterogeneity such as market concentration, whether a divestiture was imposed, and the re-branding strategy of the target stores are important to explain the post-merger dynamics. A simple theoretical model of local-market assortment competition explains most of our findings.

• Monday 13 November 2017 12:00-14:00

  Salle R2-01, Campus Jourdan, 48 boulevard Jourdan, 75014 Paris

  DEMENTIEV Andrei (National Research University Higher School of Economics (Moscow)) : Contracting out public services to asymmetric partnerships

  Abstract

  ABSTRACT: The paper studies an organisational structure of contracting out public utilities to an asymmetric partnership between the local authorities and a vertically integrated firm. Being fiscally constrained and politically motivated the government delegates pricing decision in the downstream market to a partnership while the upstream market for essential input is not regulated directly. The accompanying regulatory instrument, namely the net budget transfer, is valued at the social cost of public funds and can be set ex post making the firm’s participation constraint non-binding. A negative budget transfer effectively extracts the firm’s rent in the non-regulated upstream market and depends on the corporate structure of the partnership. We build a formal model that predicts that local authorities with relatively high share in the partnership should decrease the net transfer when the profit margin in the downstream market falls. The empirical support for this finding is found in the panel data for 25 suburban passenger companies in Russia in 2011-2015. The effect of the share structure on the relationship between the compensation ratio and farebox ratio is captured by the interaction variable highlighting the nonlinear effect. The failure to fully compensate operational losses in the transportation market is interpreted as a system of pseudo-franchising contracts in the Russian suburban railway transport that, to some extent, reflects political preferences of the local authorities in the country.

• Monday 6 November 2017 12:00-14:00

  Salle R1-14, Campus Jourdan, 48 boulevard Jourdan, 75014 Paris

  BOURGEON Jean-Marc : Green Technology Adoption and the Business Cycle

  Margot Hovsepian

  Abstract

  Abstract : We analyze the adoption of green technology in a dynamic economy affected by random shocks where demand spillovers are the main driver of technological improvements. Firms' beliefs and consumers' anticipations drive the path of the economy. We derive the optimal policy of investment subsidy and the expected time and likelihood of reaching a targeted level of environmental quality under economic uncertainty. This allows us to estimate the value that should be given to the environment in order to avoid an environmental catastrophe as a function of the strength of spillover effects.

• Monday 23 October 2017 12:00-13:30

  Salle R2-01, Campus Jourdan, 48 boulevard Jourdan, 75014 Paris

  WILLIAMS III Roberton (University of Maryland) : Unemployment and Environmental Regulation in General Equilibrium

  Abstract

  This presentation will cover two closely related papers. The first paper analyzes the effects of environmental policy on employment (and unemployment) using a new general-equilibrium two-sector search model. We find that imposing a pollution tax causes substantial reductions in employment in the regulated (polluting) industry, but this is offset by increased employment in the unregulated (nonpolluting) sector. Thus the policy causes a substantial shift in employment between industries, but the net effect on overall employment (and unemployment) is small, even in the short run. An environmental performance standard causes a substantially smaller sectoral shift in employment than the emissions tax, with roughly similar net effects. The effects on the unregulated industry suggest that empirical studies of environmental regulation that focus only on regulated firms can be misleading (and those that use nonregulated firms as controls for regulated firms will be even more misleading). This paper’s results also suggest that overall effects on employment are not a major issue for environmental policy, and that policymakers who want to minimize sectoral shifts in employment might prefer performance standards over environmental taxes.

• Monday 16 October 2017 12:00-14:00

  Salle R2-01, Campus Jourdan, 48 boulevard Jourdan, 75014 Paris

  CHEN Stéphanie (University of Chicago) : Competitive Personalized Pricing with Sophisticated Consumers

  Chongwoo Choe, Monash University

  Abstract

  Abstract Personalized pricing, a limiting case of price discrimination as the number of targeted consumer segments increases, becomes increasingly common due to the availability of vast amount of individual-level data. This paper studies personalized pricing in a Hotelling setting when each firm has a given target segment and consumers can be sophisticated. Sophisticated consumers can overcome the hurdles for price discrimination and have access to the price offered to non-targeted consumers, which naive consumers cannot. When all consumers are naive, personalized pricing leads to intense competition and total industry profit lower than that under the Hotelling equilibrium. But market is always fully covered. Sophisticated consumers raise the firm's cost of serving non-targeted consumers, hence discourage firms from poaching the rival's targeted customers. This softens competition. When firms have sufficiently large and non-overlapping target segments, consumer sophistication allows firms to extract full surplus from their targeted customers through perfect price discrimination. Consumers are strictly worse-off under competitive personalized pricing, a result in contrast to the common view in the literature. With sophisticated consumers, firms also choose not to serve the entire market when the commonly non-targeted market segment is small. Thus consumer sophistication can lead to lower consumer surplus and lower social welfare. We also discuss the implications for the regulation of the use of customer data by firms. Key words: Personalized pricing, consumer sophistication, customer targeting, privacy JEL Classification: D43, D8, L13, L5

  Full text [pdf]

• Monday 2 October 2017 12:00-14:00

  Salle R2-01, Campus Jourdan, 48 boulevard Jourdan, 75014 Paris

  FLECKINGER Pierre (Ecole des Mines - PSE) : The Incentive properties of collective reputation

  FABRE Adrien (PSE) : French favored redistribution derived from surveys: A political assessment of optimal tax theory

  Wanda Mimra, ETH Zürich, and Angelo Zago, University of Verona

• Monday 25 September 2017 12:00-14:00

  Salle R2-01, Campus Jourdan, 48 boulevard Jourdan, 75014 Paris

  LISKI Matti (Aalto University) : Carbon leakage: a mechanism design approach

  co-author: Lassi Ahlvik (NHH, Bergen)

  Full text [pdf]

• Monday 18 September 2017 12:00-14:00

  Salle R1-14, Campus Jourdan, 48 boulevard Jourdan, 75014 Paris

  TOEWS Gerhard (Oxcarré, Oxford University) : Resource discoveries and FDI bonanzas: An illustration from Mozambique

  MAVI Can Askan (Univ. Paris I - PSE) : What can abrupt events tell us about sustainability ?

  Pierre-Louis Vézina, King's College London

  Full text [pdf]

• Tuesday 13 June 2017 12:00-14:00

  Salle R1-15, Nouveau Bâtiment, Campus Jourdan, 48 boulevard Jourdan, 75014 Paris

  DAVIS Lucas (Haas Business School, UC Berkeley) : Do Energy Eciency Investments Deliver at the Right Time?

  Judson Boomhower

  Abstract

  Abstract Electricity cannot be cost-eectively stored even for short periods of time. Consequently, wholesale electricity prices vary widely across hours of the day with peak prices frequently exceeding o-peak prices by a factor of ten or more. Most analyses of energy-eciency policies ignore this variation, focusing on total energy savings without regard to when those savings occur. In this paper we demonstrate the impor- tance of this distinction using novel evidence from a rebate program for air conditioners in Southern California. We estimate electricity savings using previously unavailable hourly \smart-meter data and show that savings tend to occur during hours when the value of electricity is high. This signicantly increases the overall value of the program, especially once we account for the large capacity payments received by generators to guarantee their availability in high-demand hours. We then com- pare this estimated savings prole with engineering-based estimates for this program as well as a variety of alternative energy-eciency invest- ments. The results illustrate a surprisingly large amount of variation in economic value across investments.

  Full text [pdf]

• Monday 29 May 2017 12:00-14:00

  Salle R1-15, Nouveau Bâtiment, Campus Jourdan, 48 boulevard Jourdan, 75014 Paris

  GAVAZZA Alessandro (London School of Economics) : *

• Monday 22 May 2017 09:00-13:00

  Salle R1-15, Campus Jourdan, 48 Boulevard Jourdan, 75014 paris

  Journée interne du groupe Régulation et Environnement

• Monday 15 May 2017 12:00-14:00

  Salle R1-15, Campus Jourdan, 48 boulevard Jourdan, 75014 Paris

  BERTHOD Mathias (PSE, Paris I) : A bargaining agreement between non-renewable resource producers: stability versus asymmetry

  MAYOL Alexandre (PSE, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne ) : Tarifs discriminants et monopoles de l'eau potable: Analyse économique des tarifs progressifs dans l'eau potable française à partir d'une expérience naturelle

  Abstract

  Within a linear quadratic differential game framework with economic depletion inspired by Salo and Tahvonen (2001), we use recent results of Reddy and Engwerda (2013) to characterize a Pareto optimal bargaining agreement between two non-renewable resource producers. The main result is that incentive to cartelize will depend on the symmetry of the producers. In contrast to Salo and Tahvonen, we find that the concentration in supply could then increase over time while countries have more and more interest to bargain.

• Monday 24 April 2017 12:00-14:00

  Salle R1-15, Campus Jourdan, 48 boulevard Jourdan, 75014 Paris

  TOEWS Gerhard (Oxcarré, Oxford University) : Creative Destruction vs Destructive Destruction: A Schumpeterian Approach for Environmental Policy

  ALTAGHLIBI Moutaz (PSE, Paris I, Dynamic Border Carbon Adjustment to Enhance Green Growth) : Dynamic Border Carbon Adjustment to Enhance Green Growth

  Abstract

  This article aims to show how a market exposed to catastrophic events finds the equilibrium level of adaptation and mitigation policies through R&D policy, with respect to different levels of Poisson probability of catastrophe. We study the effect of a pollution tax on the long-run growth rate and the implications of catastrophe probability on this effect. Our results suggest that the economy increases its R&D level with a higher catastrophe probability only if the penalty rate due to an abrupt event is sufficiently high. We also show that a pollution tax could increase the long-run growth. Besides, the catastrophe probability increases the amplitude of this positive effect if penalty rate is high enough. The market makes adaptation much more than mitigation with a higher catastrophe probability if total productivity of R&D is higher than cleanliness of innovations for intermediate goods. Lastly, we show that pollution growth could be higher with less polluting inputs, which we call a Jevons-type paradox. Abstract : This paper analyzes the growth and welfare impacts of Border Carbon Adjustments (BCA) across trading countries. I build a trade model with monopolistic competition and dynamic investment decisions using Ramsey growth model. The government in each country can invest either in green nonpolluting or in brown polluting capital. I solve numerically for an open loop Nash equilibrium to study different configurations of BCAs across countries. I find that a unilateral BCA is welfare enhancing for the country that applies it and an effective tool to shift the growth of the other country towards greener path even when countries are not concerned about the environment. In a case of a BCA war, results show that a bilateral BCA becomes welfare enhancing for both countries if governments care sufficiently about the environmental quality of their consumers. Moreover, the asymmetry in initial development levels across countries induces a slower growth for the initially poorer country only if the other country is richer in brown capital. Furthermore, the model shows that trade openness should be done gradually along the development path of countries.

• Monday 27 March 2017 12:00-14:00

  Salle R1-15, Nouveau Bâtiment, Campus Jourdan, 48 boulevard Jourdan, 75014 Paris

  PLANTINGA Andrew (Bren School of Environmental Science and Management - UC Santa Barbara) : Salience and the Government Provision of Public Goods

  Matthew Wibbenmeyer et Sarah Anderson

  Abstract

  This paper examines the consequences of salience for the government provision of public goods. Salience is a common behavioral bias whereby people's attention is drawn to salient features of a decision problem, leading them to overweight prominent information in subsequent judgments. We analyze the case in which the public's demand for the good is distorted by salient events, and explore how salience influences public good allocation and efficiency. Theoretical predictions regarding public good allocation are ambiguous and depend on the magnitude of the change in payoffs and the extent of salience effects. We test whether salience increases or decreases allocation of government projects to reduce wildfire severity near wildland-adjacent communities. Even though the occurrence of a wildfire likely reduces the severity of future fires in the same area, it may increase the likelihood that fuels management projects are placed nearby if wildfire events strongly increase the salience of losses under future fires. We find strong evidence that the salience eects increase the likelihood of fuels management projects, and use robustness checks to eliminate competing explanations for our results. Our salience framework may also offer insights into government responses to terrorism, natural disasters, disease outbreaks, and environmental catastrophes.

• Tuesday 21 March 2017 12:00-14:00

  Salle R1-15, Nouveau Bâtiment, Campus Jourdan, 48 boulevard Jourdan, 75014 Paris

  ITO Koichiro (University of Chicago) : Information Frictions, Inertia, and Selection on Elasticity: A Field Experiment on Electricity Tariff Choice

• Monday 13 March 2017 12:00-14:00

  Salle R2-20, Nouveau Bâtiment, Campus Jourdan, 48 boulevard Jourdan, 75014 Paris

  GAUTHIER Stéphane : Profit taxation and production efficiency

  BEZIN Emeline

  Guy Laroque (Sciences-Po, University College London and Institute for Fiscal Studies)

  Abstract

  Stéphane Gauthier: Profit taxation and production efficiency. Ecrit avec Guy Laroque (Sciences-Po, University College London and Institute for Fiscal Studies). Emeline Bezin: An economic theory of green consumer culture and sustainable technological change

• Monday 6 March 2017 12:00-14:00

  Salle 8, RDC Bâtiment G, Campus Jourdan, 48 boulevard Jourdan, 75014 Paris

  ARMSTRONG Mark (University of Oxford) : Ordered Consumer Search

  Full text [pdf]

• Monday 27 February 2017 12:00-14:00

  Salle 8, RDC Bâtiment G, Campus Jourdan, 48 boulevard Jourdan, 75014 Paris

  JULLIEN Bruno (Toulouse School of Economics) : Privacy Protection

  Yassine Lefouili et Michael Riordan

  Abstract

  We study the incentives of a website to sell its customers? personal information. Third parties buying that information can either benefi?t or harm consumers, who learn about their vulnerability to unwanted intrusions through experience. The cost to the website of selling the information is the risk that bad experience may cause consumers to end their relationship with the website. The measures adopted by the website to mitigate that cost are neither contractible nor discernible by consumers. Nevertheless, in equilibrium, the website has incentives to be cautious about selling information or spend resources to screen third parties. We characterize the equilibrium privacy policy of the website and its welfare properties, and discuss the difficulty of welfare-improving regulations.

• Monday 20 February 2017 12:00-14:00

  Salle 8, RDC Bâtiment G, Campus Jourdan, 48 boulevard Jourdan, 75014 Paris

  SECCHI Angelo (PSE - Université Paris 1) : Volatility of growth: size matters

  CHABROST Marion

  Abstract

  SECCHI Angelo: Volatility of growth: size matters. CHABROST Marion: “Get what you pay for” - The story underneath remunicipalization in the water sector. Co-écrit avec Stéphane Saussier et Simon Porcher.

• Monday 30 January 2017 12:00-14:00

  Salle 8, RDC Bâtiment G, Campus Jourdan, 48 boulevard Jourdan, 75014 Paris

  PITTEL Karen (IFO, Münich) : Thinking Local but Acting Global? The Interplay Between Local and Global Internalization of Externalities

  Abstract

  The paper analyzes the long-run development of local and global pollution when two types of abatement activities can be undertaken. One type reduces solely local pollution (e.g., use of particulate matter filters) while the other mitigates global pollution as well (e.g., application of fuel saving technologies). In the framework of a 2-country endogenous growth model, the implications of different degrees to which global externality is internalized are analyzed. We focus especially on local and global pollution levels and the effects on growth in both countries. Furthermore we derive implications for optimal policies in the different scenarios.

• Monday 23 January 2017 12:00-14:00

  Salle 10, RDC Bâtiment G, Campus Jourdan, 48 boulevard Jourdan, 75014 Paris

  CANTILLON Estelle (Université Libre de Bruxelles) : Price formation in the European carbon market: The role of firm participation and risk management practices

  Aurélie Slechten, Lancaster Business School

  Abstract

  A key argument in favor of emissions markets (relative to command-and-control types of regulation) is their ability to aggregate dispersed information about abatement costs and emissions and generate price signals to guide firms' trading and abatement decisions. We exploit trading data from the first phase of the EU emissions trading scheme (EU ETS) to assess the extent to which this market was indeed able to deliver such price signals. We know who traded, when, with whom, on which platform if any, and at what price. Participation was partial, trading patterns differed across categories of market participants and the market was fragmented. We build a model of trading and information aggregation that integrates the salient features of the market and use it to explore their impact on the price formation process. Risk management practices and partial participation help account for some of the price anomalies that have been identified in the past on the basis of the analysis of price time series only.

• Monday 16 January 2017 12:30-14:00

  MARTIMORT David (PjSE) : *

  TOULEMON Léa

  Abstract

  David MARTIMORT: Towards a Theory of the Precautionary Principle, joint with Louise Guillouet (Columbia) -- Lea TOULEMON: Regional Purchasing Groups and Hospital Medicine Prices: Evidence from Group Creations

• Monday 5 December 2016 12:30-14:00

  DI FALCO Salvatore (GSEM) : Mother of Invention: the Emergence of the Reluctant Entrepreneur in Rural Ethiopia

• Monday 28 November 2016 12:30-14:00

  VARIAN Hal (Google, Berkeley) : Use and Abuse of Network Effects

  Abstract

  The term ``network effects'' has a clear meaning in the context of economic models, but it is sometimes confused with other concepts like increasing returns to scale and learning-by-doing. This essay is an attempt to clear up some of this confusion.

• Monday 21 November 2016 12:30-14:00

  HERRERA ARAUJO Daniel (PSE) : Multiproduct retailing and buyer power: The effects of product delisting on consumer shopping behavior

  HENRIET Fanny (PSE) : A Decomposition of Fuel Taxes

  Jorge Florez, Universidad del Rosario / Stéphane Gauthier

  Abstract

  Daniel Herrera Araujo : Multiproduct retailing and buyer power: The effects of product delisting on consumer shopping behavior (joint with Jorge Florez, Universidad del Rosario) Fanny Henriet: A Decomposition of Fuel Taxes (joint with Stéphane Gauthier)

• Monday 14 November 2016 12:30-14:00

  LAURENT-LUCCHETTI Jérémy (Université de Genève) : Property Rights and Land Disputes: Theory and Evidence from Ethiopia

  Salvatore Di Falco, Marcella Veronesi et Gunnar Kohlin

  Full text [pdf]

• Monday 7 November 2016 12:30-14:00

  LINNEMER Laurent (CREST) : Partial Exclusivity

  Philippe Choné et Thibaud Vergé

• Monday 17 October 2016 12:30-14:00

  CHIROLEU-ASSOULINE Mireille (Université Paris 1, Panthéon Sorbonne - Paris School of Economics) : *

  MARCHI-ADANI Riccardo (University of Verona) :

  Paola Valbonesi

  Abstract

  Mireille Chiroleu-Assouline: Merchants of Doubt: Corporate Political Influence when Expert Credibility is Uncertain
  Riccardo Marchi-Adani: Favoritism in scoring rule auctions:an empirical investigation on Italian public procurement for canteens

  Full text [pdf]

• Monday 10 October 2016 12:30-14:00

  Campus Jourdan, bâtiment G, rez-de-chaussée, salle 10

  DECHEZLEPRETRE Antoine (Grantham Research Institute, London School of Economics) : Do Pollution Offsets Offset Pollution? Evidence from the Clean Development Mechanism in India

  Abstract

  We provide the first large-scale empirical evaluation of the additionality of the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism, the largest carbon emissions offset mechanism in the world, based on the universe of wind power projects implemented in India during the period 1993-2013. We deal with the self-selection of project developers into the CDM by comparing CDM projects with non-CDM projects, which are by definition not additional. We find strong evidence that the majority of CDM projects are not additional, suggesting that a large share of CDM carbon credits does not represent real emission reductions. Furthermore, the more profitable projects are, the more likely they are to receive carbon credits. Hence, the CDM is doing the opposite of its objective function, i.e. supporting projects that would have existed anyway rather than inframarginal projects.

• Monday 3 October 2016 12:30-14:00

  BELLEFLAMME Paul (Université catholique de Louvain) : Tax Incidence on Competing Two-Sided Platforms: Lucky Break or Double Jeopardy

  Eric Toulemonde

  Full text [pdf]

• Monday 19 September 2016 12:00-14:00

  Campus Jourdan, bâtiment G, rez-de-chaussée, salle 10

  NUNEZ ROCHA Thais (Université Paris 1, Panthéon Sorbonne - Paris School of Economics) : Legislation versus Treaties: the effect on environmental outcomes in an open economy and On the Pro-Competitive Effects of Vertical Mergers in Two-Sided Markets

  POUYET Jérôme (CNRS – PSE)

  Inmaculada Martinez-Zarzoso