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This book offers information on the agricultural economy of Kazakhstan, Russia and Ukraine (KRU region). It covers a wide range of relevant issues, such as agricultural policies that affect production and trade, the privatization of land markets, the optimal use of fertilizers and other inputs, and the role of cooperatives. A number of sectors are examined, including poultry, dairy, fruits, and vegetables. However, particular attention is paid to the potential expansion of the region's grain sector and why the KRU region emerged during the 2000s as a major grain exporter, and its potential to further expand grain production and exports. The authors of the book's 23 chapters include scholars from Europe, the USA and Canada who are working with collaborators in the KRU countries. By broadening the knowledge and understanding of the constraints, potentials and policy trade-offs that will determine the agricultural development and trade performance of the KRU countries, this book serves as an important resource for global stakeholders focused on food security and food markets and for the scholarly community that analyses the workings and evolution of these markets.

International audience Since the beginning of the twentieth century, when the concept of "Well-being" has found its new place in economics, the welfare economics, has since consisted of evaluating economic situations, and mainly, the terms of distribution. The debate that was before is only about the measurement of value and utility. Happiness, or well-being, was synonymous with anything that provides satisfaction without necessarily being "useful", yet the relativity of measuring utility was simplified by cumulative aggregation. Indeed, collective well-being represents the sum of the levels of well-being (or utility) of the individuals who make up the community considered. The useful is therefore anything that contributes to maximizing social well-being.Utilitarianism, through functions of marginal utility, has made it possible to identify the optimum of collective and social well-being. On the other hand, and according to the principle of maximization of the sum of well-being, the hypothesis of an equitable distribution of shares, in particular of income between the members of a society, requires that the marginal gain in well-being, in the allocation of resources to different individuals, ie the same everywhere. The fundamental and recapitulated matrix of utilitarianism was uttered by Jeremy Bentham: "The greatest happiness of the greatest number is the measure of just and unjust." The utilitarian doctrine was therefore crucial in the development of several theories in economic and social sciences. We cite in particular the theory of justice. The latter stipulates according to its founder John Rawls, that Men are too egocentric and selfish to determine the principles of fair and equitable distribution of wealth: they seek only to derive their own benefit.Through a theoretical base which presents the economy of well-being, and the theory of justice, our article will deal with the problem of economic inequalities and its perspectives on the attainment of social well-being, in its most extreme ideal's ...

We develop a framework of bilateral oligopoly with a sequential two-stage game in which manufacturers engage in bilateral bargains with retailers competing on a downstream market. We show that bargaining outcomes depend on three different bargaining forces and can be interpreted in terms of "equilibrium of fear". We estimate our framework using data on soft drink purchases in France and find that retailers have a higher bargaining power than manufacturers. Using counterfactual simulations, we highlight that retail mergers always increase retailers' fear of disagreement which weakens their bargaining power vis-à-vis manufacturers and leads to higher wholesale and retail prices.

International audience Why do some societies have political institutions that support productively inefficient outcomes? And why does the political power of elites vested in these outcomes often grow over time, even when they are unable to block more efficient modes of production? We propose an explanation centered on the interplay between political and cultural change. We build a model in which cultural values are transmitted inter-generationally. The cultural composition of society, in turn, determines public-goods provision as well as the future political power of elites from different cultural groups. We characterize the equilibrium of the model and provide sufficient conditions for the emergence of cultural revivals. These are characterized as movements in which both the cultural composition of society as well as the political power of elites who are vested in productively inefficient outcomes grow over time. We reveal the usefulness of our framework by applying it to two case studies: the Jim Crow South and Turkey's Gülen Movement.

International audience ; This paper uses a quasi-natural experiment, the recent gold boom in Burkina Faso, to document the local impact of two alternative mining techniques: artisanal and industrial mining. Artisanal mines have a bad reputation. When these mines (labor intensive and managed in common) compete for land with industrial mines (capital intensive and privatized), governments tend to favor the latter. However, more than 100 million people depend on artisanal mines for a livelihood. Our identification strategy exploits two sources of variation. The spatial variation comes from the exposure of households to different geological endowments, and the temporal variation comes from changes in the global gold price. We are the first to document the economic impact of artisanal mines. We show that a 1% increase in the gold price increases consumption by 0.12% for households near artisanal mines. Opening an industrial mine, in contrast, has no impact on local consumption.

International audience ; This paper uses a quasi-natural experiment, the recent gold boom in Burkina Faso, to document the local impact of two alternative mining techniques: artisanal and industrial mining. Artisanal mines have a bad reputation. When these mines (labor intensive and managed in common) compete for land with industrial mines (capital intensive and privatized), governments tend to favor the latter. However, more than 100 million people depend on artisanal mines for a livelihood. Our identification strategy exploits two sources of variation. The spatial variation comes from the exposure of households to different geological endowments, and the temporal variation comes from changes in the global gold price. We are the first to document the economic impact of artisanal mines. We show that a 1% increase in the gold price increases consumption by 0.12% for households near artisanal mines. Opening an industrial mine, in contrast, has no impact on local consumption.

Our article provides a typological analysis of the regulation of common scientists on the basis of their linguistic coding activity. We analyse the commonalities from the perspective of the displayed functioning of communities facilitated by their members. We question the apparent homogeneity of the epistemic communities that support these communities by conducting an analysis based on linguistic imaginaries. That question calls into question the homogeneity of the 'community' form. On the one hand, we carry out a wide review of social science literature and, on the other hand, carry out a sociolinguistic analysis of the lexical statements resulting from the self-presentations of 23 communes. This critical analysis leads to the segmentation of all the groups that develop these commonalities into two families: communities with a stable and regular profile and for scientific or technical purposes, and groups with a hot and unstable profile and with a view to social transformation. ; International audience We aim to propose a typological analysis of the regulation of scientific creative commons from the linguistic codification activity. We analyze the commons since the point of view of the communities' work. We point the apparent homogeneity of the epistemic communities that support these commons. This leads to a questioning about the homogeneity of the "community". We proceed, on the one hand, by means of a comparison between different research programs developed in the sociology of science and politics, on the other hand, by conducting a sociolinguistic analysis of the lexical statements resulting from the self-presentations of 23 creative commons. This critical analysis leads to segmenting all the groups that develop these commons into two families: communities with a stable and regular profile and scientific aims, and collectives with an abundant and unstable profile and with a view to social transformation. ; Our article provides a typological analysis of the regulation of common scientists on the basis of ...

International audience ; This paper uses a quasi-natural experiment, the recent gold boom in Burkina Faso, to document the local impact of two alternative mining techniques: artisanal and industrial mining. Artisanal mines have a bad reputation. When these mines (labor intensive and managed in common) compete for land with industrial mines (capital intensive and privatized), governments tend to favor the latter. However, more than 100 million people depend on artisanal mines for a livelihood. Our identification strategy exploits two sources of variation. The spatial variation comes from the exposure of households to different geological endowments, and the temporal variation comes from changes in the global gold price. We are the first to document the economic impact of artisanal mines. We show that a 1% increase in the gold price increases consumption by 0.12% for households near artisanal mines. Opening an industrial mine, in contrast, has no impact on local consumption.

International audience ; This paper uses a quasi-natural experiment, the recent gold boom in Burkina Faso, to document the local impact of two alternative mining techniques: artisanal and industrial mining. Artisanal mines have a bad reputation. When these mines (labor intensive and managed in common) compete for land with industrial mines (capital intensive and privatized), governments tend to favor the latter. However, more than 100 million people depend on artisanal mines for a livelihood. Our identification strategy exploits two sources of variation. The spatial variation comes from the exposure of households to different geological endowments, and the temporal variation comes from changes in the global gold price. We are the first to document the economic impact of artisanal mines. We show that a 1% increase in the gold price increases consumption by 0.12% for households near artisanal mines. Opening an industrial mine, in contrast, has no impact on local consumption.

If the idea of familiarizing individuals with savings is an old one, it is especially since the early 2000s that the economist's modern concept of financial literacy has been the object of particular attention. The literature, essentially empirical, has developed considerably since then. It is during this period that the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) launched its Financial Literacy Programme.The objective of this chapter was to describe financial literacy and financial education programs in Western Europe: France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, and the Netherlands. A first observation concerns financial literacy: to varying degrees, the residents of these countries are far from financially literate. A second observation concerns the heterogeneity of financial literacy. In all countries, financial literacy depends on age, education, and gender (higher among men, older people, and graduates). Some determinants appear to be more specific to the culture of each country (for example, political opinion in France, political past history in Germany (West vs. East), or language area in Switzerland). Finally, it appears that financial education programs have been in Western Europe since the mid-2000s, probably offered more systematically in centralized countries. ; Si l'idée de familiariser les individus avec les outils de l'épargne n'est pas nouvelle, c'est surtout depuis le début des années 2000 que le concept moderne de littéracie financière s'est développé chez les économistes. La littérature dans ce domaine, essentiellement empirique, s'est depuis lors considérablement enrichie. C'est aussi à cette période que l'Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques(OCDE) a d'ailleurs lancé son programme d'éducation financière pour développer la culture financière des ménages. L'objectif de cet article est de décrire les programmes de culture financière et d'éducation financière en Europe occidentale:France, Allemagne, Italie, Espagne, Suisse et Pays-Bas. Un premier constat ...

International audience ; This paper uses a quasi-natural experiment, the recent gold boom in Burkina Faso, to document the local impact of two alternative mining techniques: artisanal and industrial mining. Artisanal mines have a bad reputation. When these mines (labor intensive and managed in common) compete for land with industrial mines (capital intensive and privatized), governments tend to favor the latter. However, more than 100 million people depend on artisanal mines for a livelihood. Our identification strategy exploits two sources of variation. The spatial variation comes from the exposure of households to different geological endowments, and the temporal variation comes from changes in the global gold price. We are the first to document the economic impact of artisanal mines. We show that a 1% increase in the gold price increases consumption by 0.12% for households near artisanal mines. Opening an industrial mine, in contrast, has no impact on local consumption.

International audience The need to collect data on governance-related issues has been growing since the 1990s. Demand gained momentum in 2015 with the adoption of SDG16 worldwide and Agenda 2063 in Africa. African countries played a key role in the adoption of SDG16 and are now leading the process of collecting harmonised household data on Governance, Peace and Security (GPS). Yet the possibility has recently been raised that sensitive survey data collected by government institutions are potentially biased due to self-censorship by respondents. This paper studies the potential bias in responses to what are seen as sensitive questions, here governance issues, in surveys conducted by public organisations. We compare Afrobarometer (AB) survey data, collected in eight African countries by self-professed independent institutions, with first-hand harmonised GPS survey data collected by National Statistics Offices (NSOs). We identify over 20 similarly worded questions on democracy, trust in institutions and perceived corruption. We first compare responses from AB survey respondents based on who they believe the survey sponsor to be. No systematic response bias is found between respondents who believe the government to be behind the AB survey and those who consider it to be conducted by an independent institution. Our estimations suggest that the observed residual differences are due to a selection bias on the observables, which is mitigated by propensity score matching procedures. The absence of a systematic self-censorship or attenuation bias is further evidenced by means of an experimental design, whereby responses from GPS surveys conducted by NSOs (the treatment) are compared with AB surveys sponsored by reportedly independent bodies. Our results provide evidence, at much higher levels of precision than other existing data sources, of the capacity and legitimacy of government-related organisations to collect data on governance as a matter of national interest and sovereignty.

International audience Heterogeneous professional sector, the work-integration sector has been influenced in recent years by a hybrid mode of public regulation: a rationale of supervisory regulation characterized by coercive mechanisms of public intervention. The goal is to correlate contracts and subsidies with the quality of the integration services provided (outcomes) by operational structures; a competitive rationale characterized by competitive mechanisms to promote the economic value and the technical efficiency of the goods and services produced (output). Consequently operational structures converge towards the adoption of entrepreneurial standards. Their economic viability requires adopting an social business model less dependent on public subsidies and more commercial. According to the same dynamics, their transformation into Work Integration Social Enterprises (WISEs) is accompanied by processes of concentration. We study the forms, configurations and properties. In particular, eight types of business combination and a territorial polarization form, the territorial cluster of economic cooperation, have been identified. ; Secteur professionnel hétérogène, l'insertion par l'activité économique (IAE) a été influencé ces dernières années par une régulation publique hybride : une régulation tutélaire caractérisée par des mécanismes coercitifs d'intervention publique, l'objectif étant de corréler contrats et subventions à des services d'insertion de qualité fournis par des structures opérationnelles ; une régulation concurrentielle caractérisée par des mécanismes de compétition promouvant la valeur économique et l'efficience technique des productions support à l'insertion. Par conséquent, les structures opérationnelles composant le secteur convergent vers l'adoption de normes entrepreneuriales. Leur viabilité économique impose d'adopter un modèle économique à finalité sociale moins adossé aux subventions publiques et plus commercial. Suivant la même dynamique, leur transformation en entreprises sociales ...

This paper examines the performance of the spatial arbitrages carried out between two regional markets for wholesale natural gas linked by a pipeline system. We develop a new empirical methodology to (i) detect if these markets are integrated, i.e., if all the spatial arbitrage opportunities between the two markets are being exploited, and (ii) decompose the observed spatial price differences into factors such as transportation costs, transportation bottlenecks, and the oligopolistic behavior of the arbitrageurs. Our framework incorporates a new test for the presence of market power and it is thus able todistinguish between physical and strategic behavior constraints on marginal cost pricing. We use the case of the "Interconnector" pipeline linking Belgium and the UK as an application. Our empirical findings show that all the arbitrage opportunities between the two zones are being exploited but confirm the presence of market power.

A two-country, two-period model of international migration with heterogeneous agents highlights microeconomic foundations for examining the interrelation between brain drain, brain gain and whether human capital formation is undertaken at home or abroad. Ex ante choices regarding where to study depend on abilities, relative qualities of university systems, sunk educational investments, government grants, and endogenously determined, individual foreign employment probabilities. Self-selection critically defines an inherently wide-range of conceivably positive or negative net welfare effects. The optimal design of alternative educational grant schemes, aimed at enhancing the source country's welfare, also depends on the heterogeneity of abilities and associated informational assumptions.