Calendrier du 08 mars 2018
Macroeconomics Seminar
Du 08/03/2018 de 15:45 à 17:00
PSE - 48 boulevard Jourdan, 75014 Paris, salle R1-09
DELACROIX David (UC Louvain)
*
TOM (Théorie, Organisation et Marchés) Lunch Seminar
Du 08/03/2018 de 12:30 à 13:30
salle R2-20, campus Jourdan - 48 bd Jourdan 75014 Paris
ZHAO Wei (HEC Paris)
Optimal bridge players among separated networks.
Abstract: This paper studies the optimal bridge problem among multiple separated separated networks and examines optimal targeting of players, groups and central planner. We find that the optimal choice (new links connect with other groups) of the group coincides with the individual’s rational choice. But, the best choice for the central planner may be different from the individual’s rational choice. We have shown how player’s centrality is going to be affected due to combination of separated networks, and how this is related to the self-loops and Bonacich centrality of these separated networks. We construct an exact index to identify the key bridge players linking up whom will mostly increase aggregate equilibrium effort and aggregate equilibrium welfare, and we find that the key bridge players may consist of neither each group’s key players nor central players. We provides its implications on company merge, optimal targeting, community merge and network design.
Travail et économie publique externe
Du 08/03/2018 de 12:30 à 13:45
BANERJEE Abhijit (MIT)
The Entertaining Way to Behavioral Change
écrit avec Co-authors: Eliana La Ferrara and Victor Orozco
We test the effectiveness of an entertainment education TV series, MTV Shuga, aimed at providing information and changing attitudes and behaviors related to HIV/AIDS. Using a simple model we show that "edutainment" can work through an "information" or through a "conformity" channel. We conducted a randomized controlled trial in urban Nigeria where young viewers were exposed to Shuga or to a non-educational TV series. Among those who watched Shuga, we created additional variation in the "social messages" they received and in the people with whom they watched the show. We find significant improvements in knowledge and attitudes towards HIV and risky sexual behavior. Treated subjects are twice as likely to get tested for HIV 6 to 9 months after the intervention. We also find reductions in STDs among women. Our experimental manipulations of the social norm component did not produce significantly different results from the main treatment. Also, we don't detect significant spillovers on the behavior of friends who did not watch Shuga. The "information" effect of edutainment thus seems to have prevailed in the context of our study.
Behavior seminar
Du 08/03/2018 de 11:00 à 12:00
New building R2-21
BAUMARD Nicolas (DéPARTEMENT D'ETUDES COGNITIVES DE L'ENS)
PSYCHOLOGICAL ORIGINS OF THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
Since the Industrial Revolution, human societies have experienced a high and sustained rate of economic growth. Recent explanations of this sudden and massive change in economic history have held that modern growth results from an acceleration of innovation. But it is unclear why the rate of innovation drastically accelerated in England in the 18th century. An important factor might be the alteration of individual preferences with regard to innovation due to the unprecedented living standards of the English during that period, for two reasons. First, recent developments in economic history challenge the standard Malthusian view according to which living standards were stagnant until the Industrial Revolution. Pre-industrial England enjoyed a level of affluence that was unprecedented in history. Second, Life History Theory, a branch of evolutionary biology, has demonstrated that the human brain is designed to respond adaptively to variations in resources in the local environment. In particular, a more favorable environment (high resources, low mortality) triggers the expression of future-oriented preferences. In this paper, I argue that some of these preferences – a lower level of time discounting, a higher capacity to accept losses, a lower materialistic orientation and a higher tendency to explore – are likely to increase the rate of innovation. I review the evidence regarding the impact of affluence on preferences in contemporary we well as in past populations, and conclude that the impact of affluence on neuro-cognitive systems may partly explain the modern acceleration of technological innovations and the associated economic growth.