A balanced budget requirement directly affects the intra-generational wealth distribution and influences the level of government spending. Both effects give rise to distributive conflicts that can explain why some groups support balanced budget rules while other groups in the same generation...

We investigate the development of an innovative and high-risk type of borrowing for local governments, known as structured loans. Using transaction data for more than 2,700 local governments in France, we show that the adoption of these instruments is more frequent for politicians from highly...

This paper aims at questioning the link between local finances and the economic dynamism of cities. This issue is based on the frequently stressed cases (by the media) of uncontrolled expenses of cities, increased level of local taxes and negative effects on local economics. Therefore, as a...

French Abstract: Les économistes ont coutume de distinguer entre une composante positive et une composante normative de leurs travaux, ce qui est une singularité de leur discipline, car cette distinction n'a pas de répondant exact dans les autres sciences sociales. Elle a fortement évolué...

In the development of the general equilibrium theories, Hicks and Allais played an essential role. We are studying here the contributions which were theirs respectively in Value and Capital (1939) and in the Traité d’économie pure (1943). The accent is put on three points: the theory of...

French Abstract: Le monde traverse une crise sans précédent qui mêle finance, économie, social et culture. Si nous ne voulons pas être rejetés de ce monde, il faut alors questionner l’utopie fondatrice de nos sociétés modernes. Cette utopie a fondé la reconnaissance de la liberté...

International comparisons of living standards are still primarily made using GDP per capita, in spite of recurrent criticism that this is a partial and ill-founded measure of social welfare (Sen). Alternative measures abound, such as the Index of Human Development computed by the United Nations...

Fondée sur l’enquête prioritaire de Madagascar de 2005, la présente recherche examine l’hypothèse de non-linéarité de l’impact des revenus des adultes sur le travail des enfants, et l’opportunité d’estimations économétriques prenant en compte la dépendance spatiale des...