Laboratoire d'Economie Appliquée de Grenoble

International audience

International audience

A rapid and deep decarbonization of power supply worldwide is required to limit global warming to well below 2 °C. Beyond greenhouse gas emissions, the power sector is also responsible for numerous other environmental impacts. Here we combine scenarios from integrated assessment models with a forward-looking life-cycle assessment to explore how alternative technology choices in power sector decarbonization pathways compare in terms of non-climate environmental impacts at the system level. While all decarbonization pathways yield major environmental co-benefits, we find that the scale of co-benefits as well as profiles of adverse side-effects depend strongly on technology choice. Mitigation scenarios focusing on wind and solar power are more effective in reducing human health impacts compared to those with low renewable energy, while inducing a more pronounced shift away from fossil and toward mineral resource depletion. Conversely, non-climate ecosystem damages are highly uncertain but tend to increase, chiefly due to land requirements for bioenergy.

Abstract Products' end‐of‐life management has recently become a critical business issue. One of the possible end‐of‐life strategies is remanufacturing, which can provide competitive advantages through material and energy savings. Beyond industrial organization challenges, there is a question about the interest of developing a green marketing strategy for remanufactured products. Indeed, remanufactured products can be considered as green products since their industrial process has environmental benefits. Our paper asks whether consumers are willing to pay for remanufactured products, especially when they are informed that these products are ‘green’. We use experimental auctions to elicit consumers' WTP for specific characteristics of remanufactured products. Our study indicates that consumers tend to value the remanufactured product less than the conventional one unless they are informed about their respective environmental impacts. We find no evidence that consumers are willing to pay a premium for the green (i.e. remanufactured) product. However, providing environmental information to consumers has an effect on their WTP for the conventional product: they generally decrease significantly their WTP for the conventional (and thus most polluting) product. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

Egalement paru dans : Priceless markets : the political economy of credit in Paris. The University of Chicago Press, 350 p., 2000

abstract ‘Distance’ between organizational contexts has been a prime concern of scholarly research into international business strategies. We extend this research by exploring the complementary roles of institutional and human resource distances on foreign investors' entry strategies. Combining institutional and resource‐based theories suggests that: (1) human resource differences complement institutional differences; (2) the effects of some aspects of distance are curvilinear; and (3) the impact of distance differs between first and subsequent entries. We find empirical support for these arguments on a unique dataset of foreign direct investment in six emerging economies that incorporates multiple host as well as multiple home countries.

Abstract To examine whether four pre-selected front-of-pack nutrition labels improve food purchases in real-life grocery shopping settings, we put 1.9 million labels on 1266 food products in four categories in 60 supermarkets and analyzed the nutritional quality of 1,668,301 purchases using the FSA nutrient profiling score. Effect sizes were 17 times smaller on average than those found in comparable laboratory studies. The most effective nutrition label, Nutri-Score, increased the purchases of foods in the top third of their category nutrition-wise by 14%, but had no impact on the purchases of foods with medium, low, or unlabeled nutrition quality. Therefore, Nutri-Score only improved the nutritional quality of the basket of labeled foods purchased by 2.5% (−0.142 FSA points). Nutri-Score’s performance improved with the variance (but not the mean) of the nutritional quality of the category. In-store surveys suggest that Nutri-Score’s ability to attract attention and help shoppers rank products by nutritional quality may explain its performance.

Abstract Scientists are increasingly overwhelmed by the volume of articles being published. The total number of articles indexed in Scopus and Web of Science has grown exponentially in recent years; in 2022 the article total was ∼47% higher than in 2016, which has outpaced the limited growth—if any—in the number of practicing scientists. Thus, publication workload per scientist has increased dramatically. We define this problem as “the strain on scientific publishing.” To analyze this strain, we present five data-driven metrics showing publisher growth, processing times, and citation behaviors. We draw these data from web scrapes, and from publishers through their websites or upon request. Specific groups have disproportionately grown in their articles published per year, contributing to this strain. Some publishers enabled this growth by hosting “special issues” with reduced turnaround times. Given pressures on researchers to “publish or perish” to compete for funding, this strain was likely amplified by these offers to publish more articles. We also observed widespread year-over-year inflation of journal impact factors coinciding with this strain, which risks confusing quality signals. Such exponential growth cannot be sustained. The metrics we define here should enable this evolving conversation to reach actionable solutions to address the strain on scientific publishing.

Abstract The paper performs an in-depth comparison of four incentivised risk elicitation tasks. We show by means of a simulation exercise that part of the often observed heterogeneity of estimates across tasks is due to task-specific measurement error induced by the mere mechanics of the tasks. We run a replication experiment in a homogeneous subject pool using a between subjects one-shot design. Results shows that the task estimates vary over and above what can be explained by the simulations. We investigate the possibility the tasks elicit different types of preferences, rather than simply provide a different measure of the same preferences. In particular, the availability of a riskless alternative plays a prominent role helping to explain part of the differences in the estimated preferences.

Abstract Are labels good or bad for consumers and firms? The answer may seem straightforward since labels improve information, yet economic theory reveals situations where their introduction reduces the welfare of at least some market participants. This essay reviews the theoretical literature on labels in order to identify and explain the main reasons that may cause labeling to produce undesirable side‐effects. In contrast to earlier reviews that either concentrate on narrow topics or treat the subject in a more or less informal way, we bring together the main results from all the relevant topics by presenting and discussing the assumptions and model‐building techniques that underpin them. The advantage of this approach is that it identifies the origin of the differences between results, thus allowing the synthesis of results that sometimes appear even to be contradictory. We focus on “quality labels” and examine the impact of labeling on market structure, the side‐effects of costly certification, issues related to the label's trustworthiness, the rationale for mandatory vs. voluntary labeling, the level at which the label's standard is set according to the agency that selects it, the political economy of labels, that is, pro‐ or anti‐label lobbying, lobbying to affect the label's standard, and lobbying in favor or against the label's mandatory imposition. These topics cover a wide range of applications, including Genetically Modified Organism (GMOs), organic produce, geographic indicators, controlled origin, eco‐labels, etc. We conclude by identifying topics that require further research.

Economists emphasise the crucial role of absorptive capacity with regard to external knowledge. In this respect, the firm's knowledge base determines its ability to recognise, assimilate and exploit externalities. Assuming that a firm's absorptive capacity also depends upon the characteristics of external knowledge, this paper analyses the relationship between three basic concepts empirically defined: the fundamental or applied nature of knowledge, the tacit or codified form of knowledge and the absorptive capacity of the firm. Based on an empirical analysis of R&D contracts between France's largest research institute and industrial firms, we show that a low absorptive capacity inhibits cooperation in R&D. The collaboration concerns mostly applied fields and needs informal interactions to support transfers (such as telephone calls, informal interviews and meetings). A high absorptive capacity extends the assimilation to all kinds of knowledge (applied, fundamental) through all types of vehicles (PhD students, scientific staff, technical devices). Altogether, absorption mechanisms seem to diversify as the firm's absorption capacity increases.

We construct an equilibrium job search model with on‐the‐job search in which firms implement optimal‐wage strategies under full information in the sense that they leave no rent to their employees and counter the offers received by their employees from competing firms. Productivity dispersion across firms results in wage mobility both within and across firms. Workers may accept wage cuts to move to firms offering higher future wage prospects. Equilibrium productivity dispersion across ex ante homogeneous firms can be endogenously generated. Productivity dispersion then generates a nontrivial wage distribution which is generically thin‐tailed, as typically observed in the data.

ASIRPA is an original and comprehensive approach for assessing the socio-economic impact of public-sector research organizations through case studies. The cases are theory-based, selected to characterize the diversity of the broader impacts, and standardized so as to allow the scaling-up of the analysis of impact to the level of the organization. ASIRPA is founded on well-tried tools, and the added value of the approach lies in the adaptation and combination of these tools to design a comprehensive approach, which has been tested in a real situation and proven to be robust, credible, and implementable.

This paper reconsiders the wide agreement that females are more risk averse than males providing a leap forward in its understanding. Thoroughly surveying the literature we first find that gender differences are less ubiquitous than usually depicted. Gathering the microdata of an even larger sample of Holt and Laury replications we boost the statistical power of the test and we show that the magnitude of gender differences, although significant, is economically unimportant. We conclude that gender differences systematically correlate with the features of the elicitation method used and in particular the availability of a safe option and fixed probabilities.

BACKGROUND: The effects of L-asparaginase on hemostasis during induction chemotherapy are less defined in adults than in children. We, therefore, studied the effects of L-asparaginase in adult patients. DESIGN AND METHODS: This was a retrospective analysis of 214 patients treated with L-asparaginase (7500 IU/m(2) x 6) for acute lymphoblastic leukemia or lymphoblastic lymphoma. Between day 1 of the induction course and discharge, clinical events, and biological and therapeutic modifications were reviewed. RESULTS: Antithrombin and fibrinogen levels were lower than 60% and 1 g/L in 71% and 73% of patients, respectively. Twenty thromboses occurred in 9.3% of the patients; these patients had a median antithrombin level of 53% (range, 21-111) at the time of the event. Forty-two episodes of bleeding occurred in 31 patients with a median fibrinogen level of 1.3 g/L. Infusions of L-asparaginase were reduced or delayed in 64% of patients due to low fibrinogen and/or antithrombin levels. Fresh-frozen plasma, antithrombin and fibrinogen were infused in 31%, 41% and 52% of patients, respectively. The mean antithrombin and fibrinogen levels increased from 61% to 88% and from 1 to 1.4 g/L after infusion of antithrombin or fibrinogen respectively, while both levels remained unchanged after the infusion of fresh-frozen plasma. In patients who received antithrombin concentrates L-asparaginase injections were less frequently omitted or delayed (53% vs. 72%, p=0.005), the rate of thrombosis was lower (4.8% vs. 12.2%, p=0.04) and the disease-free survival was also reduced (p=0.05). CONCLUSIONS: This retrospective study suggests that antithrombin concentrates may have a beneficial effect on the outcome of adults treated for acute lymphoblastic leukemia with L-asparaginase; prospective studies are essential to confirm this hypothesis.

A randomized double-blind study was designed with 65 patients in order to clarify two points: (1) does addition of a retinoid to psoralen-ultra violet A photochemotherapy (PUVA) of severe psoriasis decrease the UVA energy required to achieve remission, and (2) is there a difference between two retinoids, i.e. etretinate and acitretin. Acitretin-PUVA treatment was significantly superior to placebo-PUVA with respect to several items (decrease in lesional scores after 6 weeks of therapy, number of PUVA exposures, and total dose of UVA until remission). There were also differences between the etretinate-PUVA and placebo-PUVA groups, but only the decrease in lesional scores reached statistical significance.

Rising demand for distributed generation based on renewable energy sources (RES) has led to several issues in the operation of utility grids. The microgrid is a promising solution to solve these problems. A dedicated energy storage system could contribute to a better integration of RES into the microgrid by smoothing the renewable resource's intermittency, improving the quality of the injected power and enabling additional services like voltage and frequency regulation. However, due to energy/power technological limitations, it is often necessary to use hybrid energy storage systems (HESS). In this paper, a second-order sliding mode controller is proposed for the power flow control of a HESS, using a four-leg three-level neutral-point-clamped (4-Leg 3L-NPC) inverter as the only interface between the RES/HESS and the microgrid. A 3-D space vector modulation and a sequence-decomposition-based ac-side control allow the inverter to work in unbalanced load conditions while maintaining a balanced ac voltage at the point of common coupling. DC current harmonics caused by unbalanced load and the NPC floating middle point voltage, together with the power division limits, are carefully addressed in this paper. The effectiveness of the proposed technique for the HESS power flow control is compared to a classical PI control scheme and is proven through simulations and experimentally using a 4-Leg 3L-NPC prototype on a test bench.

Empirical demand systems that do not impose unreasonable restrictions on preferences are typically non-linear. We show, however, that all popular systems possess the property of conditional linearity. A computationally attractive iterated linear least squares estimator (ILLE) is proposed for large non-linear simultaneous equation systems which are conditionally linear in unknown parameters. The estimator is shown to be consistent and its asymptotic efficiency properties are derived. An application is given for a 22-commodity quadratic demand system using household-level data from a time series of repeated cross-sections. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

"This major new book provides a comprehensive, multidisciplinary analysis of the nature and significance of collaboration between firms and other actors involved in industrial innovation." "The motivations and mechanisms for technological collaboration, the fields in which it is likely to occur, and the consequences of collaboration for the parties involved and the economy as a whole are all addressed by a distinguished group of scholars drawn from economics, sociology, management theory and political economy. Areas and issues covered include growth theory and the theory of the firm, managerial objectives across different cultures, inter-firm technological linkages, networks and innovation, strategic collaboration, collaborative agreements, state intervention, strategic alliances and informal networks." "Technological Collaboration emphasizes the importance of inter-firm collaboration and the establishment of networks in innovation and economic growth. The issues and themes raised in this volume will be of interest to scholars, from a variety of different perspectives, interested in technical change, innovation and industrial organization."--BOOK JACKET.

International audience