Dear readers, This thirty-first issue of The TSEconomist magazine is the first issue of the new editorial board for the 2022-2023 academic year. As the new board, we learned how hard it is to create the issue of a magazine with such fine quality. Nonetheless, we can guarantee that we spent the best of our … Continue reading Russia’s War in Ukraine
Welcome to The TSEconomist's 32nd issue, which is also the first issue of the new year. 2022 added one more year to a repeating or, for some, "rhyming" history. Russia's invasion of Ukraine marked the start of 2022 with global unrest, a fashionable way to evolve for this decade. As missiles were dropping, global energy … Continue reading POVERTY
“The first ever traffic light that brought order in the streets […] was invented as a response to a major technological disruption: the invention of the cars. Now we have such an increase in the online traffic that we need to make rules that put order into chaos”. This is how Margrethe Vestager referred to … Continue reading Digital Market Act and Digital Service Act: When Regulation Catches up with Digital Markets
As opposed to what many may think, the impact of corruption on growth is still a very controversial question. Key factors such as a country’s political regime, legal structure or governing capacities make this topic a case-by-case issue. However, a large unanimity still considers corruption as a scourge for economic development as it is still … Continue reading Does corruption favor economic growth?
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), in order to limit the global rise of temperatures to below 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, we should reach carbon neutrality by 2050. In 2016, 70% of greenhouse gas emissions originated from the energy sector, mostly attributable to transportation, buildings and industry. The use of renewable energies … Continue reading The opportunities and challenges of the hydrogen economy
An article published by the New York Times 4 years ago showed how Uber used psychological manipulations to influence drivers' behaviour 1. To incentivize drivers to work longer hours, Uber takes advantage of people's obsession with "goal pursuit" by letting them know how close they are to hitting their earning goal when they try to … Continue reading Hidden features: The Tools that Firms Use to Manipulate Consumers on Digital Platforms and Beyond
Lorsque l’on se balade dans le jardin des plantes, à Toulouse, on a le loisir d’admirer des statues, comme la reproduction de Chloris caressée par Zéphyr, dont le style n’est pas sans rappeler celui des sculptures grecques, né au Vème et IVème siècle avant Jésus-Christ.Ce qui est moins évident cependant, c’est que c’est aussi ce style … Continue reading Un bouddha aux traits helléniques
What are your past studies and professions? I was interested in societal and economic questions after High School, so I began my studies with a Sociology major and Economics minor at the University of Mannheim. I quickly realized that I actually loved the quantitative classes I had taken, so I switched to studying only Econ … Continue reading Luise Eisfeld testimony
It has become well known that the United States is a divided nation: politically with an increasing polarization, economically with more and more inequalities between poor and rich individuals, and geographically with production concentrated in a few major cities. Starting from this observation, two MIT economists, Jonathan Gruber and Simon Johnson, come up with an … Continue reading Jump-starting America by Jonathan Gruber and Simon Johnson
This year, The TSEconomist had the idea to create a new format of articles : the “On Campus Investigations”. These articles will focus on issues that are specific to the TSE community. We will interview students and staff members, conduct surveys about the issues we feel are the most pressing on our campus. The first … Continue reading ON CAMPUS INVESTIGATION : TSE students’ mental health
As the world is fighting the Covid-19 pandemic, governments have to undertake new policies to help the global economy to recover. In addition, global warming remains an essential issue in today’s world, and an urgent shift to sustainable resources is needed. In light of this concern, many countries are interested in combining policies to make … Continue reading Environmental policies in response to global crises
Brazil is an immense mass of land, bound by a single flag and language. Against all odds, it emerged from its war of independence as a unified country. A story that was only possible due to Napoleon’s megalomaniacal plans. For those unfamiliar with the history of Brazil and Latin America, claiming that the French emperor … Continue reading How the Napoleonic Wars shaped Brazil’s Independence
Imagine that around the year 0, some nice guy who really cared about saving lives was born. If you like, you can call this guy Jesus just for the heck of it; if not, replace him with some benevolent stranger living at the same time. Suppose this fine man (or woman), after the hardships of … Continue reading Perspectives on discounting and the long-term future
The Tradeoff in Daily Decisions You wander around Carrefour and scan rows of wines on the shelf, how do you decide to keep walking or stop at a particular one? You have a good experience at TSE and in Toulouse, but you are curious about other programs and parts of the world, how do you … Continue reading A tradeoff in making decisions
With the outbreak of Covid-19, a 15 years old event surfaced; the World of Warcraft (WOW) pandemic. At the time, discussions appeared about how online video games could be revolutionary tools to predict the evolution of outbreaks. The current events make these discussions more newsworthy than ever. The corrupted blood epidemy In 2005, this massively … Continue reading Can video games help us predict the evolution of pandemics?
In Article 26.1, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that “everyone has the right to education, education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. (…)”. (United Nations, 1948). It has been stated that it should not only be a right but also, to a certain … Continue reading Out of school, excluded from a human right
"I believe a big part of our problem is that the very violent inmates, like the three that escaped, [were] sent to private prisons that were just not up to the job”, argued Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard following the escape of three murderers from Arizona's Kingman private prison on 30 July 2010. According to … Continue reading Should prisons be privatised?
Current student - Stefan Preuß Which was your favourite course(s) and why? There were many great classes. My top three are that on the role of institutions in development by Victor Gay, that on econometrics by Paul Seabright/Ana Gazmurri, and that on economic history by Mohamed Saleh. In all of them, the lecturers were able … Continue reading M2 Choice – Public Policy and Development (PPD)
Current student - Till Kov Which aspects of your chosen program were the most challenging? ETE is a very theoretical and mathematical program. For me, the most challenging aspect was the level of mathematics which is required for some courses. But this is also due to the fact that I have a less strong background … Continue reading M2 Choice – Economic Theory and Econometrics (ETE)
Current student - Gaudéric Thiétart Which aspects of your chosen program were the most challenging? I would say what is the most challenging in M2 EEE is using and learning several software languages at the same time. Some teachers prefer Stata or R, others want you to learn Matlab or Eviews. Sometimes it can be … Continue reading M2 Choice – Econometrics and Empirical Economics (EEE)
Current Student - Joseph Agossa Which aspects of your chosen program were the most challenging ? Among the courses I have chosen this year, I can say that the most challenging for me were Mathematics of deep learning algorithms. Deep learning knowledge can be described in terms of four distinct aspects: Knowledge of multiple models … Continue reading M2 Choice – Statistics and Econometrics
Current Student - Charlotte Chemarin Which aspects of your chosen program were the most challenging? I think one of the most challenging aspects is that we have a lot of oral presentations to do - at least one per course. It is something I am not comfortable with. Nevertheless, I know it is important to … Continue reading M2 Choice – Environmental and Natural Resources Economics (ERNA)
Current student- Luc Greiner Which aspects of your chosen program were the most challenging? The M2 Economics and Competition Law program is mostly about applying industrial organisation concepts to assess competition on current markets and industries. As it is more applied, it is not as challenging as, for example, the M1 Economics and Law, since … Continue reading M2 Choice – Economics and Competition Law (ECL)
Current student - Arthur Biamouret Which aspects of your chosen program were the most challenging? The M2 EMO is not technically or theoretically difficult, but I think that the hardest part for me was to do theory. After my gap year - two internships and a trip - I was expecting to do applied economics, … Continue reading M2 Choice – Economics of Markets and Organizations (EMO)
What did you do during your gap year ? During my gap year I did a six-month internship in the Réseau Autonome des Transports Parisiens Développement - RATP Dev - in Paris as a data analyst. Then, I went to Nepal for a volunteering mission with the association “All Hands and Hearts.” It consisted in … Continue reading Gap year report, Pauline Caramel
What did you do during your gap year ? During my gap year I studied in Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea, from September 2018 to June 2019. I took courses in economics and ecology, econometrics, Korean economy and Korean. What did you personally learn from this experience ? I chose this university – which does not … Continue reading Gap year report, Philippe Schmitt
Where did you do your internship and what was your role? I did a six months internship at the Réseau Autonome des Transports Parisiens – RATP – headquarter in Paris to validate my M1. My mission was to try to design an econometric model to estimate the buses demand in Ile-de-France. I did everything, from … Continue reading Internship report: Arthur Biamouret, RATP
Where did you do your internship and what was your role? Last summer I did my internship in Brussels at the European Commission in the Directorate General for Competition, F4 Merger Unit, which is specialised in Post and Transport Services. The European Commission is an EU institution with a power of investigation and intervention. The … Continue reading Internship report: Kilian Heutte, European Commission
Alors que Greta Thumberg s’indigne au sommet de l’ONU pour le climat, les émissions de gaz à effet de serre ne cessent de s’élever. Pour respecter la barre des deux degrés choisie par la COP 21, la concentration de CO2 devrait se stabiliser puis diminuer. Or elle augmente, à hauteur de 2 ppm (partie par … Continue reading Taxe carbone et redistribution
Scientific papers are at the very heart of our student lives. They cause nightmares as they feature on the seemingly endless reading list for our seminars and inspire dreams as we strive for seeing our own name in the list of authors. Still, few students waste a thought on the business side of scientific publishing. … Continue reading Knowledge for all – Open access to scientific research
Julien Grenet is a researcher at the CNRS, an Associate Professor at Paris School of Economics, and one of the founders of the Institut des Politiques Publiques. He is specialised in education economics, public economics and market design. He is known by the general public for his participation in the public debate and the vulgarisation … Continue reading Interview with Julien Grenet from PSE
If literature has widely covered collusion in horizontal markets, it has not given enough attention to collusion in vertical markets, and more precisely on how to properly evaluate the impact of cartels on total welfare. As we observe convictions for collusion among prominent manufacturers, economists try to advise authorities on new approaches to … Continue reading Should we use new economic methods to assess the impact of collusion on welfare in vertical markets? The example of the “Yoghurt case”
Dire qu’on a du mal avec l’art contemporain, c’est toujours un problème vis-à-vis des autres et de soi-même. Les autres Vis-à-vis des autres, d’abord, car les raisons pour lesquelles l’art contemporain pose problème ne sont souvent pas valables aux yeux des connaisseurs. Devant un monochrome de Malevitch, si j’affirme qu’un “enfant peut faire la même … Continue reading Le problème de l’art contemporain
We maintain the suspense a bit longer, but now the complete results are available! And the winners are ... Best L3 Teacher : Pascal Bégout L3 Eco: Isabelle Pechoux L3 Eco-Droit: Christine Maurel and Stéphane Villeneuve (ex aequo) L3 TA : Paul Henri Moisson Best M1 Teacher : Catherine Cazals M1 TA : Ferreira Da … Continue reading Teaching Awards 2020
Driven by economic growth in East Asia, world air traffic has increased at a very rapid pace in the last decades. As more and more people join the middle class in emerging countries, the market for domestic flights is expanding rapidly, which, in turn, boosts demand for commercial flights in different parts of the world. … Continue reading The growth of world air traffic and its impact on climate change
Where did you do your internship and what was your role? I was a research assistant at the German Development Institute in Bonn, Germany. It is a public structure specialised in development and environmental economics. The institute is mainly doing research, but also provides consultancy services for government and ministries. I worked on two projects … Continue reading Internship report : Rose Mba Mebiame, German Development Institute
From Adam Smith to nowadays, most contributors to economic theory were men. Now that gender equality is an important issue in society, diversity is more present. For instance, Elinor Ostrom was the first female economist who received the Nobel Memorial Prize in economics in 2009 for her work in economic governance. Despite a lack … Continue reading The influence of Joan Robinson on Economic thinking
The French economist Alfred Sauvy highlighted a shift in workforce throughout the three sectors of the economy; there is now more workforce in the service sector - the tertiary sector - than in the primary and manufacturing ones, as technical progress increased each sector’s productivity. It seems that women have benefited from these economic-related society’s … Continue reading Women’s contribution to economic growth
The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences was awarded this year to Esther Duflo and two other researchers for their work on global poverty reduction. The prize was first established in 1968, and only one woman, Elinor Ostrom, had previously been awarded in economic sciences. In the workplace, men and women should be considered … Continue reading THE (UNDER)REPRESENTATION OF WOMEN IN ECONOMICS
In recent years, digital technologies have profoundly changed many aspects of our daily lives, from e-commerce to internet search, travel, communication or entertainment consumption. While for the most part these changes have benefited consumers, certain voices have started to speak up against the power and influence of the Big Tech companies - Google, Amazon, Facebook, … Continue reading Should we break-up Big Tech?
What did you do during your gap year? My gap year was divided in two parts: the first semester for internships, and the second one to discover how a British university works -in my case, the University of Bristol. I wanted to get a long internship (six months) for my M1. I worked at the … Continue reading Gap year report, Gabriel Saive
What did you do during your gap year? I decided to have both an international and a professional experience during my gap year. First, between September and January, I studied as an exchange student at the Carlos III University in Madrid. Then, I started a six months internship in a public policy consulting company … Continue reading Gap year report, Gaudéric Thiétart
What did you do during your gap year? First, in order to pass my M1, I did an internship from May to October in Toulouse at Orange. I chose to continue it during my gap year, for six months in total instead of the four months required for the M1, to have a real experience. … Continue reading Gap year report, Margaux Sinceux
Old English – First three lines of the epic Beowulf (composed in the early eighth century) 1. in the “Insular Hand”, the handwriting of the time, which had been adopted from the Irish, 2. the transcription into the Latin alphabet and the translation into modern English (read line by line). Each of us … Continue reading The English Language: History and Etymology
Les alertes des scientifiques sur les dommages environnementaux sont de plus en plus fréquentes. Si l’on entend beaucoup parler – à raison – des modes de production d’énergie, de l’alimentation ou de la gestion des déchets, un phénomène tout aussi important se déroule sous nos yeux : la désertification. Et là aussi, nous parvient un … Continue reading Le problème non résolu de la désertification
Throughout history, humanity has committed what we now think of as moral atrocities. Some obvious examples are slavery, the subjugation of women, and the persecution of homosexuals. For generations, practices such as these seemed completely normal. We have a remarkable record of being completely oblivious to our moral failings. Take Aristotle, one of the … Continue reading Moral blindness
Kamel Daoud est un écrivain et journaliste algérien. Après une carrière au Quotidien d’Oran ponctuée par la rédaction de nombreuses chroniques, il se voit décerner le prix Goncourt du premier roman en 2015 pour Meursault, contre-enquête. The TSEconomist est allé à la rencontre de cet écrivain et vous propose dans les lignes qui suivent une … Continue reading Interview : Kamel Daoud
After decades of promise, the internet is finally starting to transform politics, just not in the way that we would have expected. In the ‘90s, digital prophets were riding a wave of optimism for our online future. The internet presented the chance to bring people together and to create e-citizens, who are more informed and … Continue reading Populism in the internet age
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