WOLFF Francois Charles

This paper investigates the effect of semi-liberty as an alternative to prison on recidivism in France. Our analysis is based on a unique dataset comprising 1,445 offenders, all eligible to semi-liberty. In the absence of an instrumental variable affecting access to semi-liberty but unrelated to recidivism, we turn to selection-on-observable methods as well as sensitivity analyses to bound the causal effect of interest. Our results under treatment exogeneity (Cox regressions) and conditional independence (entropy balancing matching) show that semi-liberty is associated with a reduction of 22% to 31% in offenders’ hazard of recidivism in the five years after release. The estimated effects decrease, but remain negative and significant when credible confounders are introduced. Overall, our analysis lends strong support for a beneficial effect of semi-liberty compared to prison.

No summary available.

The issues related to the integration of immigrants in host countries are positioned in an international context characterized by an increase in population flows over the last few decades. The mechanisms identified as determining the integration of immigrants in the labor market depend on individual, social and economic characteristics. Based on this observation, we analyze in this thesis the role of social relations as a determinant influencing both the integration of immigrants into the labor market and the professional mismatch of immigrants. Concerning the role of social networks as a means of job search, we analyze, using French data, the relationship between the network effect and the business cycle. Our results show that the network effect is countercyclical. The mobilization of intermediaries to find a job is stronger in periods of economic recession than in periods of economic growth. We extend our analysis by studying the relationship between occupational mismatch and the network effect. Beyond individual characteristics that may help explain the probability of being over/undereducated, we hypothesize that finding a job through an intermediary influences the educational match between immigrants and the jobs they hold. We find an ambiguous effect between the role of intermediaries and occupational mismatch by immigrant origin.

Around 50% of individuals obtain or hear about jobs through social networks. This hiring trend may become problematic when the labor market is tight and people need less social contacts to find a job. Using a one-period static model where network members may receive job offers directly from the firm or indirectly through employed members in the network we show that the share of new hires finding a job through social connections (ie network matching rate) decreases with the job finding rate. Using French data for the period 2003-2012, we test this prediction with immigrants, a population subgroup for whom networks play a major role in occupational decisions. We propose two network matching rate indicators, one based on direct recommendations and another one internalizing the positive externality on the employment probability induced by peers. We find a decreasing relationship between the network matching rate and the job finding rate. Social connections are less helpful for finding jobs during economic expansions.

No summary available.

No summary available.

In this paper, we investigate the effects of the Danish seine which was introduced for a subsample of vessels on a single wholesale fish market in France. The goal was to mitigate the decrease in vessel profits due to the rise of gasoline prices. Estimations are conducted from transaction data over the 2009–2011 period during which the innovation was introduced. Using a difference-in-differences approach around the discontinuity, we find that the innovation has a large positive effect on quality, prices and profit of treated vessels. However, a shift in caught fish species is observed and new targeted species are fished very intensively. This suggests that quota management is needed to ensure the sustainability of fishing practices involving the new technology in the long run.

No summary available.

This thesis exploits a new source of longitudinal data on the living standards and conditions of Moroccan households to shed light on the links between health, social protection, and poverty in the case of Morocco. First, we assess the impact of a national free health care program on health care utilization and the financial burden of health-related expenditures. Second, we examine how health shocks affect the distribution of health supply within the household. Finally, we analyze the determinants of the sense of poverty in the Moroccan population, with a particular focus on comparison effects. The main results of this work are that the free health care program had a moderate positive impact on access to health care in rural areas, but no detectable effect in urban areas, nor on health expenditures. We show that Moroccan households use a variety of informal mechanisms to protect themselves against health-related financial risk. In particular, female labor supply in urban areas responds positively to the illness of the household head. Finally, we find that the sense of poverty is related to the average standard of living of the household's reference group, but that this effect varies according to the geographical scale of this group: the average income of close neighbors is negatively related to the sense of own poverty, while that of the province of residence is positively related to subjective poverty.

No summary available.

No summary available.

No summary available.

In recent decades, the family has undergone major changes in most OECD countries. On the one hand, the fertility rate has decreased. On the other hand, the number of separations has increased significantly. This thesis proposes to study the effects of these changes in family structure on the human capital of individuals, by considering it as a new source of inequalities. In a microeconomic framework, this thesis mobilizes econometric tools and applies them to large databases. The three chapters of this thesis present new results on the effect of parental separation and family size on the human capital of the individual. The first chapter focuses on the effect of parental separation in France on individuals' occupational success, and shows a negative effect of parental separation on the individual's educational level and social position. Using American data, the second chapter focuses on the mechanisms explaining this effect, and in particular, on changes in time spent with parents. Thus, 30% of the effect of parental separation on the socio-emotional development of children is explained by the decrease in time spent with at least one parent. The third chapter considers another aspect of family structure: family size. We find that the arrival of a third child in the family decreases the socio-emotional competencies of the other children, particularly for girls.

This paper proposes a reassessment of economic growth in France between 1985 and 2010, integrating domestic production with the wealth indicators of Gross Domestic Product and labor income. Over the period, GDP growth is overestimated by 0.35 percentage points. A time decomposition reveals that growth is clearly overestimated during the period 1985-2000, while it is rather underestimated during the period 2000-2010. The slowdown in GDP growth after the 2000s is much less evident when using the indicator extended to domestic production, whose growth rate increases from 1.6% to 1.5%.

No summary available.

No summary available.

No summary available.

No summary available.

No summary available.

There is a large consensus in the literature on the major role of social networks as a helpful instrument to find a job. In this paper, we study the social network matching rate along the economic cycle both from a theoretical and empirical perspective. Using the French Labor Force Survey for the period 2003-2012, we find that the relationship between the network matching rate based on direct ties and the job finding rate is decreasing and convex as predicted by our theoretical setup. Results are completely modified when we consider a measure of the network matching rate based on indirect ties related to the share of peers in a job. In this case, we find a linearly increasing relation between the network matching rate and the job finding rate. This underlines not only the heterogeneous ways through which network membership may influence the individuals’ performance on the labor market, but also the different behaviors of these driving factors along the economic cycle.

This paper investigates whether the energy efficiency of vessels is reflected in sales prices in the second-hand market. Using unique data of nearly 1,600 sales transactions over a 21-year period, we consider a hedonic pricing framework in which we control for market conditions, vessel specifications and buyers’ country of origin to identify the specific impact from energy efficiency. Using two indicators for energy efficiency, we find a negative relationship between energy efficiency and sale price with an elasticity around 0.4. Furthermore, our results show a reduction in the influence of energy efficiency on asset values during the drybulk market boom in 2003-2008 compared to the remainder of the sample.

No summary available.

We propose a methodology to generate transaction-based price indices in a heterogeneous physical market and to compare such indices with expert-generated price indices. We apply our framework to the offshore services market using a unique dataset of around 8,000 transactions. We find that the deviation between our transaction-based indices and shipbrokers’ market indices is positively impacted by the level of dayrates and negatively impacted by the volume of transactions. Our approach is useful for the quality assurance of expert-generated price indices in heterogeneous physical markets such as transportation services.

No summary available.

No summary available.

The starting point of this thesis is the observation that in post-soviet health systems, informal payments to health professionals persist well beyond the post-socialist transition, despite successive waves of health system reform. At the same time, since the independence of the Republic of Tajikistan, a profound mistrust of certain health professionals has developed and the renunciation of care has increased, affecting vulnerable populations in particular. What role do the various informal remuneration practices play then? Are they a source of mistrust or a means of restoring trust? Are informal payments adjusted to the standard of living of patients or do they create inequalities between patients? According to the equity indicators mobilized, and contrary to popular belief, informal payments do not make it possible to make the system progressive and to guarantee access for all. In the face of these barriers to access to care, households implement different strategies: informal solidarity, debt, recourse to traditional medicine, mobilization of social capital, etc. We then study, more precisely, the extent to which migration, a massive phenomenon in Tajikistan, is part of these strategies and the extent to which remittances enable beneficiary households to improve their access to care.

No summary available.

AbstractNumerous articles dealing with stated preferences are published every year in journals related to agriculture, environment, or health. Hence, it is not easy to find all the relevant articles when performing a benefit transfer, a meta-analysis, or a review of literature. Also, it is not easy to identify trends or common practices in these fields regarding the elicitation method. We have constructed and made available a unique database comprising 1657 choice experiment and/or contingent valuation articles published in journals related to agriculture, environment, or health between 2004 and 2016. We show that the number of choice experiment studies keeps increasing and the single-bounded dichotomous choice format is the most employed question format in contingent valuation studies. We also consider the new nomenclature proposed by Carson and Louviere and we show that the “discrete choice experiment” is more popular than the “matching method,” especially in journals related to agriculture.

This paper investigates a causal mechanism through which a student's work can influence exam success. Students who have a paid job will a priori face increased difficulties in attending classes and in their personal work. The empirical analysis, based on five cross-sectional surveys conducted in France from 1997 to 2010, examines the joint decision of work and study time for nearly 80,000 students enrolled in the first to fifth years after the baccalauréat. We turn to estimating selection models on unobservables and observables to account for the endogeneity of paid activity. We find that students with paid employment spend less time on both attending classes and personal work. The negative impact on study time appears to be much higher for those with at least half-time paid employment.

We estimate a hedonic pricing regression to generate a market index from heterogeneous fixture data in the Offshore Support Vessel (OSV) market. We consider a fixed effect framework where we control for vessel characteristics and contract-specific variables. Applied to a dataset of more than 30,000 transactions from 1989 to 2015, estimates show that around 70%-80% of variation in dayrates is explained by the time fixed effects used to estimate the market index. Spot freight rates increase with engine power and transport capacity. The volatile market index is seasonal and is positively correlated to both oil prices and production volumes.

The succession of maritime accidents in the last decades of the 20th Century caused a strong political and public outcry for more stringent maritime safety regulations and measures. One of the most significant developments in this regard was the establishment of several regional agreements on Port State Control (PSC) with the specific objective of fighting substandard shipping through coordinated and harmonised inspection procedures. This article is based on results from 32,206 PSC inspections carried out by the European Union and European Free Trade Association Member States within the Paris MoU region from 1 January 2014 to 31 December 2015 to assess whether discrepancies among Member States exist after the entry into force of Directive 2009/16/EC and the introduction of the New Inspection Regime. Further, the study proceeds by investigating whether PSC team composition and inspector’s background influence inspection outcomes. The study has identified that differences in detecting at least one deficiency and/or detaining a vessel are significant among Member States. With regard to team composition and background, it appears that the former correlates to the number of deficiencies and detentions and the latter, though the significance is not always consistent, to detecting a certain type of deficiencies according to the specific inspector’s backgrounds.

No summary available.

No summary available.

Interval bidding allows people to report a range of values for a non-market good. Herein, we allow people to choose their distribution over this range endogenously. We consider a multiplicative error model explaining the willingness to pay (WTP) which is estimated using a feasible generalized least squares estimator. We apply our framework to a representative sample of the French population who were asked about the valuation of a bear conservation programme. We find that most participants prefer stating their WTP as a range rather than a point, but the shape of the distribution greatly varies across people. Our results support the use of the interval bidding with endogenous distribution approach in valuation studies.

No summary available.

The purpose of this thesis is to study the evolution of individuals' labor supply as they enter adulthood. It consists of two major themes. First, we discuss the labor supply decisions of young adults and how these are related to the family environment and to public policies aimed at them. Second, we discuss the impact of the birth of a first child on the labor supply of mothers and fathers. We find that the family environment is a factor of inequality between young adults and that the implementation of minimum income policies would reduce these inequalities. Concerning the birth of a child, it is essentially educated women who are penalized in terms of wages in the short and medium term. It seems that public policies, but also companies, have an important role to play in the return to work behavior of mothers.

No summary available.

No summary available.

No summary available.

Some resources cannot be traded on the market but they can be valued by virtual prices. I theoretically derive 3 types of virtual prices whose value I structurally estimate at the individual level in order to analyze their effects on the behavior and welfare of individuals. I statistically match the Consumer Expenditure and American Time Use surveys using a matching procedure that solves the weaknesses of the standard procedures. First, I estimate the shadow price of time that requires steps to estimate a utility function, which depends on time and market goods, that I use as a new welfare measure. The results show that the reallocation of time absorbed 30% of the adverse effect of the Great Recession. I then calculate the shadow price of 5 (consumer-produced) activities, such as leisure and food, to estimate the elasticities of time uses (including labor supply) and activity demand with respect to full income, the shadow price of time, the shadow price of activities, wages, and the price of market goods. The third shadow price I discuss provides the cost of underemployment/unemployment as a function of individual characteristics. This allows us to evaluate the opportunity cost of employment policies and to determine the level of unemployment benefits. Finally, I propose a reformulation of social norm theory where I analyze the determinants of disobedience to social norms . and the effect of disobedience on shadow prices, individual behavior and, finally, on growth.

No summary available.

No summary available.

This paper focuses on the effect of remittances on per capita consumption over time in a context of conflict , war-to-peace transition and crisis. We use two household surveys from Kosovo with unique timing , one collected immediately after the civil war in 2000 and the other during the economic crisis in 2010. This territory , in which the tension among ethnic groups is the focus of international concern , is one of the top remittance-­‐receiving countries in the world. We examine the effect of remittances not only at the average level of consumption , but also at various parts of the distribution of consumption using quantile regressions. We find that remittances alleviate poverty by enhancing the consumption level of the most vulnerable households , and the positive effect of remittances on consumption has remained constant between 2000 and 2010. This result may be connected with the resilience of remittances.

This doctoral dissertation explores the links between prison, reintegration, and recidivism. Each of the four chapters contributes to the growing field of the economics of crime, applying various econometric methods on French data to answer key questions for public policy.Chapter 1 explores the dynamics of recidivism risk after release from prison. This article is the first to document the shape of the recidivism hazard over time in France (a rapidly decreasing function) and to explore the major individual determinants that explain the level and dynamics of risk over time.Chapter 2 studies the causal effect of sentence reductions on recidivism. This article is the first to explicitly consider the critical role of inmate expectations and adaptation. By exploiting the French collective pardon of July 1996 as a natural experiment, the results support the importance of the concrete design of sentence reductions. Chapter 3 proposes the first evaluation of the causal effects of a major penal policy in France, the introduction of Electronically Supervised Placement (ESP) as an alternative to short firm prison sentences. Using the progressive implementation of EPS in French courts, the article finds significant beneficial effects of EPS on recidivism, compared to incarceration. Finally, Chapter 4 measures the deterrent effect of a more or less rapid incarceration on future delinquency. This article is the first to estimate the very beneficial effects of using fast-track procedures to prevent recidivism after release.

No summary available.

This paper proposes an evaluation of the effect of the introduction of a new fishing technique in Les Sables d'Olonne on the quality of the fish caught using the method of synthetic controls and the estimation of factor models. The estimates are conducted on aggregated data from French auctions over the period 2009-2012. Our preferred estimator of the effect of innovation with constant composition of the species caught is obtained with the factor model and corresponds to a 16.9% increase in the proportion of fish with the best quality. The synthetic control method leads to a smaller effect of the innovation (8.3%), but it is based on an interpolation of the Sables d'Olonne auction from the control auctions which is rather approximate.

No summary available.

No summary available.

The subject of the thesis deals with the theme of Moroccan migration in three dimensions. First, return migration is examined through the prism of the motives that lead the emigrant to return to his country of origin. Then, from a post-migration perspective, his resettlement and the conditions necessary for his integration in his new/old society of birth. Finally, the last section is devoted to the intentions of international mobility and non-return among Moroccan students. The mobility of students from the South to the North is often seen as a precursor to a sustainable settlement. The migration policies of receiving countries have profoundly shaped the profile of immigration candidates during the second half of the 20th century and during the first decade of the 21st century. From a demand based on a young, healthy and above all cheap labor force, the profile of immigration candidates has evolved towards another one, in this case, more qualified or a fortiori likely to become so.

This paper investigates the relative efficiency of buyers and sellers on the online diamond market using a non-parametric double-frontier setting. Our data consists in a sample of more than 100,000 round cut diamonds offered for sale online. For a given quality defined by a combination of color and clarity grades, we turn to the free disposal hull model to estimate the sets of efficient diamonds respectively for buyers and sellers in the price-weight space. We find that the average bargaining power of buyers is lower than that of sellers. Regression estimates show that the relative efficiency of buyers is reduced for heavier diamonds and when there are many diamonds of the same quality offered for sale.

The Roma constitute the largest, poorest and youngest ethnic minority group in Europe. Over the last few years, they have attracted unprecedented attention with the fear of massive waves of emigrants to Western European countries. Using unique comparative data from 12 Central and SouthEast European countries, we study the pattern and determinants of Roma emigration intentions. We find that plans to go abroad are more frequent among Roma compared to non-Roma, but the ethnic gap in emigration intentions is not explained by the more disadvantaged characteristics of Roma compared to non-Roma. Among the Roma population, potential emigrants are more educated and wealthier on average. Finally, ethnic discrimination is a very influential factor that explains the intentions to emigrate within the Roma population.

We use counterfactual analysis techniques to evaluate the impact of a $2 minimum unit price (MUP) on the distribution of Australian (Victorian) household off-trade alcohol purchases. Our estimates suggest that a $2 MUP significantly reduces the purchases of at-risk households by up to −0.92 [90% CI: −1.55, −0.28] standard drinks at the highest quantiles and has substantially less effect on households purchasing at light and moderate levels. A $2 MUP may reduce the proportions of male and female shoppers purchasing at the public health threshold of more than two standard drinks per household member per day by −3.03 [90% CI: −4.83, −1.

Aim: To investigate differences in vaccination coverage between Roma and otherwise comparable non-Roma children, including factors associated with the vaccination gap, health care access and discrimination faced by Roma. Methods: We analyse data from the Roma Regional Survey 2011 implemented in twelve countries of Central and SouthEast Europe. Our sample comprises 8,233 children aged up to 6 with 7,072 Roma children and 1,161 non-Roma children. Estimates of the Roma vaccination gap are estimated using Logit regressions. Results: We find that the Roma children have a lower probability of being vaccinated compared to non-Roma (odds ratio = 0.325). The odds of being vaccinated for a Roma child is 33.9% that of a non-Roma child for DPT, 34.4% for Polio, 38.6% for MMR and 45.7% for BCG. These differences do not appear to be explained entirely by their worse socioeconomic status. The ethnic gap narrows by about 50% once individual characteristics are controlled for, with odds ratios of 0.548 for DPT, 0.559 for Polio, 0.598 for MMR and 0.704 for BCG. The probability of being vaccinated increases with access to health care, especially when Roma have a doctor to approach when needed. Conclusions: Our findings point out a large difference in vaccination coverage between Roma and non-Roma and support the need for better understanding of factors influencing vaccination among Roma as well as policies that might improve services for Roma in Central and SouthEast Europe.

This paper investigates spatial variations in product prices using an exhaustive micro dataset on fish transactions. The data includes all transactions between vessels and wholesalers that occurred within local fish markets in France during 2007. Spatial disparities in fish prices are sizable even after taking into account fish quality, time, and unobserved seller and buyer heterogeneity. The price difference between local fish markets can be explained to some extent by distance, but mostly by a coast effect related to market locations on the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts. We also propose a new approach for identifying groups of interconnected local fish markets based on the activity of sellers and buyers within these markets. We show that most markets on the Atlantic coast are well connected, and that variation in prices across these markets is very small and in line with the law of one price.

We examine the effect of birth order on education, occupation, and parental transfers using four cross sections of the French Wealth surveys conducted between 1992 and 2010. Estimates from ordered models confirm the presence of a first born advantage in education and occupation, the latter persisting to a lesser extent after controlling for education. Strikingly, parents are on average more likely to make transfers to first-born children, although the vast majority provides cash or property gifts to all of their children. This first-born advantage in transfers is uncorrelated with the likelihood of having attained a higher education or better occupation. Overall, our findings suggest that in France, the mechanism supporting the first born advantage may not stem from confluence effects or family resource dilution.

This paper proposes an evaluation of the introduction of a new fishing technique in Les Sables d'Olonne on the quality of the fish caught using the synthetic control method and the estimation of factor models. The estimation is conducted on aggregate data at the level of French auctions over the period 2009-2012. Our preferred estimator of the effect of the innovation with constant composition of the species caught is obtained with the factor model and corresponds to an increase of 16.9% in the proportion of fish with the best quality. The synthetic control method leads to a smaller effect of the innovation (8.3%), but it relies on an interpolation from the control auctions which is rather approximate.

In a context where the search for academic excellence is at the heart of the concerns of academic institutions and public authorities, this thesis aims to contribute to the study of the determinants of the scientific production of French professors in economics. By mobilizing original data from teacher-researchers' applications for the "Prime d'Excellence Scientifique", the four proposed contributions seek to articulate two important dimensions, which have rarely been addressed jointly in the literature: the effects of collective externalities in scientific production, and the multitasking nature of teacher-researchers' activity. The first chapter of the thesis analyzes the determinants of the award of the Prime d'Excellence Scientifique (PES) to French professors in economics. We focus on the multitasking character of individual production and the dynamic dimension of this particular form of academic competition implemented since 2009. Econometric results obtained from a sequential model show that scientific publications are the most important determinant of the chances of success in the ESP. We identify discouraging factors during this dynamic tournament. The results also show that past promotion under the previous PEDR scheme increases the promotion chances of teacher-researchers. The second chapter looks at the determining factor in the allocation of the PES and the promotion of teacher-researchers: scientific production. This chapter highlights that the externalities associated with the research environment of teacher-researchers are likely to explain both the individual dynamics of scientific production and the concentration of this production among a small number of teacher-researchers. Our econometric results by quantiles conclude that there are two extreme scientific production regimes: multipurpose and specialist. However, our results do not refute the existence of a scientific production cycle that would be sensitive to the stock of skills accumulated in the work environment of teacher-researchers. Taking into account the potential interactions between teaching and research tasks highlighted in the second chapter, the third chapter proposes to analyze, using a theoretical and econometric model, the effects of the research environment on the choice of activities of teacher-researchers. By controlling for the simultaneity and endogeneity of the choice of teaching and research tasks, the econometric results on our data largely confirm the theoretical predictions: the effects of externalities resulting from the spatial concentration of research and/or training skills at a given time, leads to "typical" profiles of specialists (in research or training) or, on the contrary, "generalists" combining scientific production, pedagogical implications and collective responsibilities. Taking into account the heterogeneity of scientific publications in economics, the fourth chapter analyses the determinants of the "quantity-quality" trade-off in scientific production. In particular, we study the determinants of the choice of two types of publications defined in the CNRS ranking of economics journals: first-ranked publications and second-ranked publications. The econometric results of the joint estimation of these two types of publications conclude that there is a trade-off between good quality publications and publications in less well ranked journals, a trade-off that is sensitive to the externality effects of the research environment of teacher-researchers.

This paper investigates to what extent the return behaviour of migrants affects their transfer decisions, both at the extensive and intensive margins. We use a unique data set collected on migrants aged 45-70 living in France, with detailed information on both return intentions at retirement and on private transfers. We find that the temporary nature of migration strongly influences the pattern of transfers made by migrants. The probability of remitting for either personal savings or to family members in the origin country increases by more than 10 percentage points with return plans, the latter having no effect on gifts to family members living in France. At the intensive margin, the amount of personal savings sent to the origin country is about twice as high for migrants who intend to return.

We use the National Transfer Accounts methodology to calculate the lifecycle deficit in France for the years 1979–2005. During this period, consumption profiles were roughly constant over age, while labor income profiles shifted to higher ages. The share of the aggregate lifecycle deficit in GDP rose sharply in the 1980s due to an increase in the mean age of the population. In contrast, the per capita shares of the lifecycle deficit attributed to the population under 20 and over 60 varied little during this period, even though the relative weights of these two age-segments has shifted continuously in favor of the latter.

This thesis proposes to analyze the effects of ruptures in occupational trajectories on the health status of individuals in Europe. We consider two breaks in the career path: one at the beginning of the career -- entry into the labor market in a deteriorated economy -- and the other at the end of the career -- the transition to retirement. Between these two critical periods, we are specifically interested in the impact on health of a break, this time anticipated: the fear of losing one's job. Our empirical analyses combine data from European and British surveys. In order to overcome the endogeneity problems inherent in any empirical analysis of the link between health and career trajectory, we apply exogenous shocks to the careers of individuals. We thus use a natural experiment (the 1973 oil crisis) and the institutional characteristics as defined in the legislation of each European country (legal retirement ages, degrees of employment protection, compulsory schooling rules). Our project aims to identify a causal link between the professional activity of individuals and their obesity category through the use of specific econometric techniques taking into account endogeneity and the use of data from the GAZEL cohort (which has been following 20,000 volunteers employed at EDF-GDF since 1989).

This article empirically investigates the relationship between price dispersion and price level. Searches seem more valuable for products of high quality, but buyers may have little incentive to search since such products are less frequently purchased. The extent of price dispersion is examined using a sample of around 160 000 diamonds offered for sale online. Estimates from a two-stage econometric strategy show that price dispersion increases significantly with quality. An explanation is that buyers of high-quality gemstones pay little attention to the price of these diamonds and even more so if they perceive high prices as signals of quality and rarity of the diamonds they intend to purchase.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role played by ethnicity on the determinants and welfare implications of transfers from abroad in Kosovo. This territory, in which the tension among ethnic groups is still the focus of international concern, is one of the primary recipients of remittances in the world. Using data collected in 2011 from 8000 households residing in Kosovo and 650 of their members living abroad, we focus on differences in the remittance behaviors of Serbs and Albanians who were involved in a civil war in the 1990s. Our results show that the probability of receiving money is much higher for the Albanians compared to the Serbs, which is related to differences in migration models between both ethnic groups. Remittances lead to a significant increase in the average level of per capita consumption for all ethnic groups even after accounting for endogeneity of the transfer variable.

This paper investigates the role of productivity as a determinant of the worker’s retirement intentions. Using an overlapping generation framework, we analyze the retirement decision of a cohort of workers being ability heterogeneous. The labor market is endogenously segmented between workers having the required ability level to occupy jobs where the productivity is indexed to the technological state via on-the-job training (complex jobs) and the rest of workers, who are employed in positions where productivity is relatively de- teriorated in case of technological change due to the absence of on-the-job training (simple jobs). In case of technological change, workers in complex jobs delay their retirement date, whereas workers in simple positions will not modify their retirement decision unless taxes change. Using data from France, we find that after a technological change, older workers who benefit from a skill upgrading training program have a higher intended retirement age.

Substandard vessels that fail to comply with international maritime regulations are the target of Port State Control inspections. Despite their significant costs, many inspections do not lead to any detentions and, in a significant number of cases, no deficiencies are detected. In this paper, quantile regressions for count data are used to estimate the likelihood of having a high number of deficiencies of a specific type. The purpose is to complement existing practices focusing on detention with the objective to improve the selection process. Similar factors influence the likelihood of having a vessel detained and that of having a vessel recording a high number of deficiencies. However, quantile regressions applied to the number of deficiencies help improving the identification of factors influencing the likelihood of finding some specific types of deficiencies, which is the focus of Concentrated Inspection Campaigns. The paper concludes that the selection process for such campaigns should be improved using this new methodology.

Abstract The ballast waters from ships pose a major threat to oceans, notably because of the spread of microorganisms. The present study evaluates the techno-economic feasibility of implementing the membrane process to remove microalgae from seawater to be ballasted in a single step during planktonic bloom. The optimal conditions for the microfiltration of complex and reproducible synthetic seawater are a permeate flux and specific filtered volume of 100 L.h − 1 .m − 2 and 75 L.m − 2 .cycle − 1 , respectively. Recovery of the membrane process represents about 76.6% and 62.7% of the annual cost for a cruise ship (5400 passengers) and liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier (75,000 m 3 of liquid natural gas), followed by the membrane replacement cost (13.4% and 21.9%, respectively). The treatment costs are competitive with conventional treatments, even when the membrane process is more feasible for cruise ships due to its smaller capital cost and footprint.

Most of the literature on remittances has focused on their implications for the welfare of family members in the country of origin and has disregarded the possibility for remittances to trigger chain migration. In this paper, we address this issue with the use of longitudinal data from Bosnia and Herzegovina, one of the primary exporters of migrants and recipients of remittances in the world. Our panel data estimates indicate that remittances have a significant positive impact on the migration prospects of those remaining in the country of origin. Highly educated, healthy and young individuals are those most likely to migrate, suggesting that the implications of prospective migration on both the labor market and the rest of the economy in the origin country are likely to be negative.

This paper investigates the role of productivity as a determinant of the worker's retirement intentions. Using an overlapping generation framework, we analyze the retirement decision of a cohort of workers being ability heterogeneous. The labor market is endogenously segmented between workers having the required ability level to occupy jobs where the productivity is indexed to the technological state via on-the-job training (complex jobs) and the rest of workers, who are employed in positions where productivity is relatively deteriorated in case of technological change due to the absence of on-the-job training (simple jobs). In case of technological change, workers in complex jobs delay their retirement date, whereas workers in simple positions will not modify their retirement decision unless taxes change. Using data from France, we find that after a technological change, older workers who benefit from a skill upgrading training program have a higher intended retirement age.

No summary available.

Using a unique data set with 168 ski resorts located in France, this paper investigates the relationship between lift ticket prices and supply-related characteristics of ski resorts. A nonparametric analysis combined with a principal component analysis is used to identify the set of efficient ski resorts, defined as those where the lift ticket price is the cheapest for a given level of quality. Results show that the average inefficiencyper lift ticket price is less than 1.5 euros for resorts located in the Pyrenees and the Southern Alps. The average inefficiency is three times higher for ski resorts located in the Northern Alps, which is explained by the presence of large connected ski areas offering many more runs for a small surchage.

The paper underlines the major role of productivity as a determinant of the worker’sretirement expectations. We propose an overlapping generation model with a continuum of heterogeneous ability workers. The labor market is endogenously segmented between worker’s having the required ability level to occupy jobs where the productivity is indexed to the technological state (complex jobs) and the rest of workers who are employed in positions whose productivity will be relatively deteriorated in case of technological change (simple jobs). We show that, for a given state of technology, workers in complex positions have a latter retirement date than those in simple positions. Furthermore, in case of a positive technological change, workers in complex positions delay retirement whereas those in simple jobs advance retirement. These findings are confirmed by our empirical approach, where we find that, after a technological change, workers who benefit from a skill upgrading training program have a higher expected retirement age

.

Entrepreneurship has aroused a strong interest, both scientific and political, which has resulted in substantial public investments aimed at supporting entrepreneurs and encouraging the development and sustainability of their activity. The very interest in promoting entrepreneurship calls for a rigorous evaluation. Following a quantitative approach, the present PhD thesis focuses specifically on the role played by the entrepreneur's human capital stock, measured by his or her level of education, training and entrepreneurial experience, in his or her activity. The empirical results indicate that it is not relevant to consider the entrepreneur's human capital stock in a global way. Moreover, none of these components has an unequivocal effect on the three dimensions of entrepreneurial performance considered: duration of activity, job creation and financial results.

No summary available.

We use the National Transfer Accounts methodology to calculate the lifecycle deficit in France for the years 1979-2005. During this period, consumption profiles were roughly constant over age, while labor income profiles shifted to higher ages. The share of the aggregate lifecycle deficit in GDP rose sharply in the 1980s due to an increase in the mean age of the population. In contrast, the per capita shares of the lifecycle deficit attributed to the population under 20 and over 60 varied little during this period, even though the relative weights of these two age-segments has shifted continuously in favor of the latter.

Questions relating to the integration of immigrants and their descendants are not new in the economic literature. However, they have mostly been dealt with from the point of view of the economic efficiency of immigration or discrimination. Cultural assimilation, on the other hand, is regularly at the heart of public debate, particularly through the notions of national and cultural identity. The theory of identity appeared in economics about ten years ago and has made it possible to improve the understanding of individuals' decisions when they define themselves by their membership in one or more groups to which norms of behavior are attached. Using this theory, we look at the extent to which cultural identity, considered as the expression of the cultural assimilation of immigrants, allows us to improve our understanding of socioeconomic inequalities. After recalling the importance of the family context and the level of education in the professional success of immigrants and descendants of immigrants, we analyze the formation of cultural identity. If ethnic identity decreases with time spent in the host country, it also depends on the way it is measured. We then show a negative impact of ethnic identity on access to employment and political participation but a neutral impact on wage level. Finally, using a controlled laboratory experiment, we test more generally the significant influence of group identity on individual decisions.

Using a unique data set with 168 ski resorts located in France, this paper investigates the relationship between lift ticket prices and supply-related characteristics of ski resorts. A nonparametric analysis combined with a principal component analysis is used to identify the set of efficient ski resorts, defined as those where the lift ticket price is the cheapest for a given level of quality. Results show that the average inefficiencyper lift ticket price is less than 1.5 euros for resorts located in the Pyrenees and the Southern Alps. The average inefficiency is three times higher for ski resorts located in the Northern Alps, which is explained by the presence of large connected ski areas offering many more runs for a small surchage.

Using a unique data set on immigrants living in France in 2003, we investigate whether Muslims invest differently in their children’s education compared to non-Muslims. In particular, we want to assess whether educational inequalities between the children of Muslim and non-Muslim immigrants stem from differences between or within families. After controlling for a broad set of individual and household characteristics, we find no difference in education between children of different religions. However, we do find more within-family inequality in children’s educational achievements among Muslims relative to non-Muslims. The within-family variance is 15 % higher among Muslims relative to Catholics and 45 % higher relative to immigrants with other religions, but the intra-family inequality remains difficult to explain. Overall, our results suggest that Muslim parents tend to redistribute their resources more unequally among their children.

Local or national pricing policy: What impact for merger control in the distribution sector?

Using French data collected in 2007 from a sample of about 2,000 elderly people living in nursing homes, this paper investigates the role that individual characteristics play in satisfaction with life and depression. Following psychological studies that have highlighted the benefits of social interactions on individual well-being, I focus in particular on the role played by making friends in the nursing home. Results from random effect ordered Probit models show that both satisfaction with living conditions and feeling of depression are much more influenced by making friends in the institution than by visits from family and relatives or other individual background characteristics. These findings may be interpreted as evidence of a relational return to friendship within nursing homes.

Despite the increasing prevalence of dual-earner couples, women still perform the bulk of domestic and parental tasks within the household. In this paper, we investigate the role of the parental model in the persistence of this gender inequality. We study the possible correlation between the domestic time of parents and their young adult co-resident children using the French time-use survey conducted in 1999-2000 in which all family members aged above 14 years old were interviewed. Estimation results show a positive relationship between child and parental housework times. Girls' participation in domestic tasks is much higher than that of boys, but a gendered effect of the intergenerational relationship is not systematically confirmed and depends on the type of domestic tasks.

Hedonic price regressions have become a standard tool to study how prices of commodity goods are related to quality attributes. In this paper, we extend the traditional price specification by incorporating three sources of unobserved heterogeneity related to sellers, buyers, and matches between buyers and sellers. The extended price specification is estimated on a unique exhaustive dataset of nearly 15 million transactions occurring in French wholesale fish markets from 2002 to 2007. Results show that unobserved heterogeneity plays a significant role in price formation. For some species, its inclusion in price regressions changes the coefficients of quality-related fish characteristics. Last, using data analysis techniques, we classify fish and crustacean species by the extent to which price variations are related to fish characteristics, time effects and the three sources of unobserved heterogeneity.

This paper investigates spatial variations in product prices using an exhaustive micro dataset on fish transactions. The data record all transactions between vessels and wholesalers that occur on local fish markets in France during the year 2007. Spatial disparities in fish prices are sizable, even after fish quality, time, seller and buyer unobserved heterogeneity have been taken into account. The price difference between local fish markets can be explained to some extent by distance, but mostly by a coast effect (analogous to a border effect in the literature on the law of one price) related to separate location on the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts. In particular, fish and crustacean prices are 34% higher on the Mediterranean coast. The law of one price is verified for almost all species when considering only local fish markets on the Atlantic coast.

This paper investigates the relationship between the selling price of diamonds and their weight in carats. For this purpose, we use a unique sample of 112,080 certified diamonds collected from www.info-diamond.com during the first week of July 2011. We find substantial differences in pricing depending on cut shape. The price of diamonds increases markedly with the carat weight, with a price elasticity equal to 1.94. However, estimates from unconditional quantile regressions show that the price-weight elasticity is not constant since it rises along the price distribution of diamonds. Finally, we observe the existence of significant increases in prices for diamonds featured with round weights compared to gems just below these threshold weights.

Chartering rather than owning a vessel is a recurrent question for liner operators. This article aims at identifying the extent of such chartering practices, the characteristics of vessels chartered and if an impact on liner profitability can be found. To do so, an initial dataset collected in 2009 on 510 liner operators and 5,005 vessels is used. Results from random effect Probit models point out first that chartering rates are not different between small and large operators. Furthermore, findings suggest that chartering of small and young vessels is more common and that chartering rates have increased for companies subject to higher fleet growth from 2007 to 2009. An analysis using a fixed effect Logit model on intra-fleet management of 17 selected liner companies further stresses that larger companies have chartered more small vessels during the last 2 years, a result that may be explain by the need to allocate the financing to new larger vessels. We then study whether the chartering rate and the size of these 17 liner companies have had an influence on their observed profitability in 2007, 2008 and 2009. Our results suggest that those variables impact profitability, but in variable ways over time.

Since Akerlof’s theory of lemons, economists have viewed quality uncertainty as an informational advantage for sellers. Drawing on frontier techniques, we propose in this paper a simple method for measuring inefficiency of both sellers and buyers in markets for goods with different levels of quality. We apply a non-parametric robust double-frontier framework to the case of illicit substance markets, which suffer from imperfect information about drug quality for purchasers and to a lesser extent for sellers. We use unique data on cannabis and cocaine transactions collected in France that include information about price, quantity exchanged and purity. We find that transactional inefficiency does not really benefit either dealers or purchasers. Furthermore, information influences the performance of agents during market transactions.

No summary available.

While the intergenerational transmission of human capital has been extensively studied by economists, little is known about educational differences between siblings. This paper proposes a measure of educational heterogeneity between children for France based on a sample of 27197 children belonging to 11694 families. The estimation of ordered Probit models with random effects and the implementation of a variance decomposition allow us to distinguish between educational heterogeneity between families and educational heterogeneity within families, between brothers and sisters. The results indicate that educational heterogeneity between families accounts for nearly two-thirds of the total variability. Within siblings, girls and older siblings are relatively better educated.

For firms concerned with the phenomenon of aging, the relationship between the age structure of the workforce and the wage and productivity profiles is a key element addressed in this thesis. The first chapter reviews various theoretical concepts and describes the empirical results with respect to the wage and productivity profile as a function of age. The empirical study presented in Chapter Two assesses the marginal productivity profile by age. We consider the labor force by both skill (low-skilled, high-skilled) and age (young, middle-aged, old). We estimate, on French firm data, a nested CES production function that allows for imperfect substitution between different categories of workers. Among the main results, we find that labor productivity by age depends strongly on the workers' skill category and industry. Chapter three analyzes the behavior of juniors and seniors, in particular their attitudes towards risk, self-confidence and propensity to compete. For this purpose, we conducted an experiment with Swiss bankers. We find that, although the two generations do not differ significantly in their attitudes towards risk and ambiguity, the seniors show a higher propensity to compete. This decision is clearly influenced by information about the age of other participants. Furthermore, both generations maximize their profits in age-balanced groups.

The objective of this study is to measure the impact of external remittances on poverty in Comoros. Remittances to Comoros were estimated at USD 117 million in 2010, representing 24 percent of GDP. Remittances are by far the largest external resource of the Comoros, ahead of official development assistance, which represents about 10 percent of GDP. The vast majority of Comorian migrants who send remittances are low-skilled workers (66 percent). Conversely, almost half of the beneficiaries are from the poor classes. The "Big Wedding" is the main reason for sending remittances. Two methods of analysis were developed in this study: one descriptive and the other econometric. The econometric approach considers remittances as an endogenous data, resulting from an "implicit contract" between migrants and recipients. The conclusion of the study is that remittances contribute to a reduction in poverty indices. The impact on inequality is mixed. The incidence of poverty (P0) decreases by -3.5 percent as a result of remittances. Depth (P1) and severity (P2) decline by -7.4 percent and -5.8 percent respectively with remittances. Remittances have a greater impact on poverty for the following categories of households: those living in rural areas, those living in Grande Comore, those headed by women, the unemployed and the inactive. It can be seen that it is the categories of households that benefit most from remittances in terms of per capita expenditure that have the greatest impact on poverty reduction.

Drawing on data from an annual French guidebook published in 2004, this paper focuses on the determinants of experts' ratings on Cuban cigars. Interestingly, we find that high quality cigars are more likely to be recommended to more experienced cigar lovers. Both the self-assessed quality and recommendation depend on the length and diameter of the cigars, but also on more subjective characteristics like number and type of aromas. Results from a Fields decomposition show that the quality of cigars is much more sensitive to the presence of a default and number of aromas than the expert's recommendation, which is more influenced by the rarity of cigars. Finally, these are essentially the objective characteristics of the cigars that have an influence on their prices, meaning that consumers truly benefit from additional qualitative information when reading experts' advice and ratings.

This thesis proposes four original empirical contributions on the determinants and implications of remittances paid by international migrants to developing countries. Using aggregate data on bilateral remittances collected from the National Bank of Romania, we show that remittances are part of an implicit loan contract between migrants and their families. Using ordinary least squares and instrumental variables methods, we show that migrants' education level and geographical remoteness have a positive impact on bilateral remittances during the 2005-2007 period. Using longitudinal survey data collected from Albanian households by the World Bank, we show that migratory transfers are driven by mixed motives, mixing both altruism and exchange of services. Furthermore, we link these motives to their financial impact. Using microeconometric evaluation methods, we show that remittances have a positive impact on the financial satisfaction of recipients during the 2002-2004 period. Using the same survey data, we show, through fixed and random effects models, that Albanian households are more optimistic when they have experienced an improvement in their financial situation in the past and when they receive migratory transfers. Comparing expectations and realizations, we find that recipients tend to overestimate their financial situation during the 2002-2004 period. Finally, using aggregate remittance data from the World Bank and forestry data from the FAO, we examine the role of remittances on the environment, through the example of deforestation in developing countries. We show that the share of remittances received in GDP reduces deforestation in developing countries during the period 1990-2005.

Our thesis analyzes the impact of longer working hours on employment through four original contributions. First, using US HRS data, we show that an individual who finds that his employer adopts discriminatory practices towards older employees may revise downwards his or her retirement age. Moreover, an employer may grant bonuses to its older workers to force them to leave. Inspired by the French reforms of 2003 and 2008, we consider a tax on the amount of early retirement bonuses paid by the employer. Through a matching model with endogenous job destruction, we show that in the case of a high tax on these bonuses, an increase in the retirement age encourages firms to part with their senior employees. In a second part of the thesis, we examine the effect of a longer working life on youth employment. By considering an imperfect substitution between young and older workers on the labor market, we show theoretically and empirically through an aggregate firm approach, that a decrease in the retirement of older workers can reduce the hiring of young workers. Moreover, youth employment and senior employment are linked via intergenerational transfers. Thus, using a nested-generation model, we show that the labor supply of young people increases with the amount of time their senior parents devote to caring for their grandchildren, but that longer working lives have an ambiguous effect on the amount of this transfer.

We integrate into the traditional model of delinquency a specificity of juvenile delinquency, namely the fact that, generally, juvenile delinquents act in gangs. In doing so, we break with the Beckerian model based on the assumption that delinquents are isolated individuals, and we follow the line of integrative theories. More precisely, the objective of our work is to study the influence of gangs on adolescents' decision to commit an offence and, if necessary, to re-offend. To this end, we use a theoretical and empirical analysis. Theoretically, our research has two objectives. The first objective is to explain the sociologists' finding that gang affiliation induces adolescents to commit crimes. To do this, we use economic models, not used in the economics of delinquency, and demonstrate, using an original model, that in some cases an individual criminal sanction may be ineffective in diverting a gang member from delinquency. The second objective is to study whether gang affiliation can affect the outcome of a delinquent career. Empirically, we seek to test the validity of our theoretical predictions using an original database tracking the judicial careers of 535 juvenile offenders. Our results highlight the ineffectiveness of repressive policies in the context of gangs, which leads us to advocate other forms of policies to fight juvenile delinquency.

We study the process of asylum legislation and its impact on refugees. The preliminary chapter presents the history of refugee flows and asylum policies, the reasons for migration and the philosophical stakes of the subject. The second chapter studies the influence of asylum policies on refugee flows. We analyse the impact of different types of asylum law restrictions on decisions of refugees choosing their country of destination and whether to apply for asylum. The use of traffickers indirectly influences the size of the immigration flows and the number of asylum claims. The third chapter describes the choice of the level of asylum standard chosen by different levels of government. This choice is made as a result of the expected result of a standard on refugee flows. Chapter four compares different institutional choices for asylum legislation in the European Union. Taking objectives concerning illegal immigration into account, it compares the level of standards that would be adopted by national governments, by the Council of the European Parliament, and in co-decision. The fifth chapter studies the structure of grants given Member states by the European Refugee Fund (ERF). The ERF grants both fixed funds and subsidies that complement project funding. Taking transaction costs into consideration, we study the impact of different grant structures on spending on refugees.

This thesis focuses on the inter vivos transfer behaviors that circulate within families and proposes an extension of the analysis framework from two to three generations. Based on a microeconomical modelization of aid decisions, the predictions of the various theoretical hypotheses considered serve as a reference for the econometric study applied to two surveys on solidarity conducted in 1992 in France. With two generations, parents and children, downward helping behaviors are articulated around altruism where gifts are freely given and exchange characterized by immediate or deferred reciprocity relationships. The results underline the plural nature of aid over the life cycle, human investments for the young and patrimonial transmissions for the elderly, but the anticompensation and retrospective effects observed contradict the predictions of the two previous models. Given these difficulties, the framework of analysis is then extended to three co-present generations. If the study of aid to children and parents confirms the limits of altruism and egoistic intertemporal exchange, the data also reveal the intervention of several generations endowed with their own decision-making power in the redistributive process. This autonomy of each generation is legitimized in a dynamic analysis of transfers where each generation is successively donor and recipient. This consecution of solidarities defines a prospective and retrospective indirect reciprocity with a reproduction of the gift for the benefit of others. The empirical study confirms this intervention of a third party in the exchange with a transmission of transfer behavior between successive generations.