Suchergebnisse

International audience The privatisation of farm advisory services resulted in the creation of new service firms. Surveys were conducted in three regions, in Germany, France and the Netherlands in the cereals sector. They show the emergence of new types of farm advisory providers (consulting firms, suppliers of softwares to support decision making). The logics of performances and the back-office configurations of these firms are very different from those which prevailed in the public extension services or those which exist in the upstream and downstream enterprises that provided advice to farmers (cooperatives, commodity traders). This evolution invites to open a new research agenda on the evolution of the quality of evidence that will be available to support farm advisory services. ; La privatisation du conseil agricole a débouché sur la création de nouvelles firmes de service. Des enquêtes réalisées dans trois régions, en Allemagne, en France et aux Pays-Bas, auprès de prestataires de conseil technique dans la filière céréales, montrent l'émergence de nouveaux types de prestataires (cabinets de consultants, fournisseurs de logiciels d'aide à la décision). Ces nouveaux acteurs ont des logiques de performances et des configurations de back-office très différentes de celles qui prévalaient dans les dispositifs de conseil publics ou de celles qui existent dans les entreprises d'amont et d'aval qui font du conseil (coopératives, négociants). Ce constat invite à ouvrir un agenda de recherches sur l'évolution de la qualité des « preuves » sur lesquelles peut s'appuyer le conseil.

We study fiscal devaluation in a small-open economy with labor market search frictions. Our analysis shows the key role of both dimensions in shaping the optimal tax scheme. By reducing labor market distortions, the tax reform is welfare-improving. Yet, as it makes imports more expensive, fiscal devaluation lowers the agents' purchasing power, which is welfare-reducing. These contrasting effects give rise to an optimal tax scheme. Besides, transition matters. If the economy is better off in the long run, the required transitional saving effort increases the cost of the reform, thereby calling for a moderate magnitude of fiscal devaluation.

International audience This paper studies payout policies of listed family firms. The recent evolutions of family firms models bring to study two types of agency conflicts, the one between shareholders and manager (type I), and the one between majority and minority shareholders (type II). Our results show that payout policies are related to the intensity of the two types of agency conflicts which are overall less strong than in non family firms. ; L'objectif de cette étude est d'analyser la relation entre les politiques de distribution des entreprises familiales cotées et deux grands types de conflits d'agence dans les entreprises familiales, entre actionnaires et dirigeant (type I), et entre actionnaires majoritaires et minoritaires (type II). Les résultats sur les entreprises du SBF 250 montrent que les montants distribués sont liés à ces deux composantes du conflit d'agence, qui est globalement moins fort dans les entreprises familiales.

International audience The formulation of legal rules is a challenging issue for lawmakers. Trade-offs are inevitable between providing more guidance by specific rules and enlarging the scope by general rules. Using real options theory we show that the degree of precision should be considered as a degree of flexibility which increases the value of the text. Thus, we derive a normative principle for a draftsman to choose between rules versus standards and to decide when the law should be enacted. In highly innovating environments, delaying the enactment allows lawmakers to obtain more information. Therefore, the lower the degree of precision of the law, the shorter the delay. ; La formulation des règles juridiques est un véritable défi pour les producteurs de droit. Des arbitrages sont inévitables entre des règles spécifiques et des règles générales. Les premières apportent de la précision dans les signaux envoyés aux agents, les secondes ont un champ d'action plus large. En utilisant la théorie des options réelles, nous montrons que le degré de précision d'une règle peut être analysé comme un degré de flexibilité qui accroît la valeur de cette règle. Ainsi, nous dérivons un principe normatif pour les producteurs de droit confrontés aux choix entre règles et standards et devant décider de la date d'application de d'une nouvelle règle. Nous montrons en particulier que plus le degré de précision de la règle est faible, plus le délai optimal diminue.

This paper studies the optimal linear tax-transfer policy in an economy where agents differ in productivity and in genetic background, and where longevity depends on health spending and genes. It is shown that, if agents internalize imperfectly the impact of genes and health spending on longevity, the utilitarian social optimum can be decentralized with type-specific redistributive lump sum transfers and Pigouvian taxes correcting for agents' myopia (leading to undersaving and underinvestment in health), and for their incapacity to perceive the effect of health spending on the resource constraint of the economy (causing overinvestment in health). The second-best problem is also examined under linear taxation instruments. Our main result is that it may be optimal to tax health spending, in particular under a complementarity of genes and health spending in the production of longevity. ; Ce papier étudie la politique optimale de taxation linéaire dans une économie où les agents diffèrent selon leur productivité et leur bagage génétique et où la longévité dépend de dépenses privées de santé et des gènes. Il est montré que, si les agents internalisent imparfaitement l'impact des gènes et des dépenses de santé sur la longévité, l'optimum social utilitariste peut être décentralisé avec des transferts forfaitaires redistributifs et des taxes Pigou corrigeant la myopie des agents (menant à une sous-épargne et un sous-investissement dans la santé), et pour leur incapacité à percevoir les effets des dépenses de santé sur la contrainte de ressources de l'économie (causant un sur-investissement en santé). Le problème du second-rang est également examiné sous des instruments de taxation linéaires. Notre résultat principal est qu'il se peut qu'il soit optimal de taxer les dépenses de santé, en particulier sous une complémentarité des gènes et des dépenses de santé dans la production de la longévité.

This paper presents evidence on the equilibrium labor market impacts of a large rural workfare program in India. We use the gradual roll out of the program to estimate changes in districts that received the program earlier relative to those that received it later. Our estimates reveal that following the introduction of the program, public employment increased by .3 days per prime-aged person per month (1.3% of private sector employment) more in early districts than in the rest of India. Casual wages increased by 4.5%, and private sector work for low-skill workers fell by 1.6%. These effects are concentrated in the dry season, during which the majority of public works employment is provided. Our results suggest that public sector hiring crowds out private sector work and increases private sector wages. We use these estimates to compute the implied welfare gains of the program by consumption quintile. Our calculations show that the welfare gains to the poor from the equilibrium increase in private sector wages are large in absolute terms and large relative to the gains received solely by program participants. We conclude that the equilibrium labor market impacts are a first order concern when comparing workfare programs with other anti-poverty programs such as a cash transfer.

In 1928, Utah Construction Company completed its first project outside of the United States with the 110 mile railroad for Southern Pacific of Mexico. Over the next 30 years, UCC continued to work on projects in Mexico including dams, roads, mining, and canals. The collection contains several booklets and correspondence along with approximately 500 photographs. ; 8.5 x 11 in. paper ; 96) Return to Harry McNev Mexico- Copper & Exploration ABSTRACT CONDITIONS THAT AFFECT MINING EXPLORATION AND MINING PRODUCTION IN MEXICO Private mining industry is experiencing difficult times in many countries that are or have been large mineral producers. Would Mexico offer opportunities for exploration and production? Mexico is a mineral rich country. For the exploration en-gineer this is the most vital point. If the exploration groups are professionally adept, they will find mineralization. A broad review of metallogenetic provinces and of past and present production in Mexico can be used as a guide to explora-tion. Although Mexico is well endowed with minerals, there are many factors that must be considered before a determination can be made that the mineral discovered is ore; (a) restrictive factors in-cluca governmental policy such as taxes, Mexicanization, commodity prices and certain laws; (b) favorable factors include a stable government, strong and freely-convertible peso, and relatively low direct-production costs. -The Mexican mining industry offers an opportunity to those willing to study the problems, accept the law, and invest in the social -as well as financial- future of Mexico. CONDITIONS THAT AffECT MINING EXPLORATION AND MINING PRODUCTION IN MEXICO I. INTRODUCTION. The potential foreign investor in Mexico's Mining In-dustry must carefully consider many facets of the industry and of the country. On the positive side, a stable govern-ment, a healthy monetary position and. above all, a mineral-iy rich country can be found. However, no investments should be made until the potential investor has investigated the min-ing law with its Mexicanization requirements, the mining taxes, the technical manpower regulations and the power of the ex-ecutive branch to set commodity prices. The official mining policy during the period 1930 to 1954, did not encourage investments in the mining industry. However, the future looks much brighter, for now Mexicanization has been accomplished for over 90% of the industry and the gov-ernment realizes that mine products provide a base for Mexico's currency and bring in foreign exchange, that mining provides an important source of government revenue and is an important con-sumer of power, supplies, and transportation services. Also, and of great future importance, Mexico's expanding industry will be in need of more raw materials to supply its demand and its increasing export of manufactured goods. II. HISTORY. The Spanish conquistadores were obsessed by the riches found in Mexico - particularly gold and silver. Thus began the systematic plundering of the new colony and the beginning of mining as the basis of Mexico's economy, Mexico became known as the ""mine and mint of Spain"". Major mining districts such as Taxco, Zacatecas, Santa Brbara and Guanajuato were discovered and brought into pro-duction between 1520 and 1550. It is interesting to note that these selected districts are ail still in production. From 1810, which saw the start, of independence from Spain to 1910 when the Mexican Revolution broke out, mining continued to play a leading role in the national economy. It probably would be fair to say that it sustained the economy. From 1875 to 1900, for example, mining accounted for 70% of the value of Mexico's exports. During the period of the 1910-1917 Revolution mineral pro-duction sharply declined. Silver, lead, and zinc, however, hit their peaks in the late 1920's nut then the general depression followed by governmental restrictions and high taxes reduced exploration which then was followed by reduced production and to date the peaks of production of the late 1920's have not been reached. Under the progressive regime of President Diaz Ordaz, which started in 1964, governmental stimulation to the mining industry has led to greater exploration which is now showing up in increased production. Today Mexico ranks as the leading producer of silver and is the fourth largest producer of lead, fifth of zinc and fourteenth of copper. Mexico also produces major amounts of mercury, bismuth, sulphur, antimony and is the leading producer of fluorite. The entire mineral industry accounts for over 20 percent of the country's foreign exchange earnings although this amounts to less than 2% of the Gross National Product. III. CONDITIONS IN THE MINING INDUSTRY OF MEXICO THAT AFFECT IN-VESTMENT. A. Mexicanization. The term Mexicanization has often been misinterpreted as nationalization. Mexicanization only implies the control of a company in Mexican hands. The transfer of control from foreign to Mexican hands proceeds on a private level by negotiations between local and foreign businessman. Although foreign capital is welcomed, the investor should not expect more favorable treatment than that accorded domestic investors. In Mexicanization it is implicit that as a country progres-ses and matures it must create a body of national capital. For if the profit earned leaves the country (although it created jobs, paid taxes, etc.) the servicing of loans and repatriation of capital would likely endanger the balance of payments leading to an unsound economy. Instead, by retaining within the country at least 51% of the profit, a national capital can be created which is so necessary for further economic expansion and industrialization. - 3 - In 1961 a mining law was passed providing that new mining concessions can be granted only to Mexican nationals, and companies in which a minimum of 51 percent of their capital stock (or 66 per-cent in some instances) is owned by Mexican nationals. This same law, however, granted tax privileges to Mexicanized companies. B. Immigration Restrictions. To protect their skilled and unskilled labor, the Mexican Government has regulated the immigration of foreign technicians in-to Mexico. However, if for the good of the country it is felt that a foreign expert is vitally needed, he can be permitted to enter generally with the stipulation that he train his replacement. Mexican universities are training mining engineers, metal lurgists and geologists but their training is principally academic and an industrial training period is necessary to make these en-gineers capable of filling normal production positions, C. The mining law of Mexico was completely redrafted in 1961, This is an extensive law and only a few of the points will be discussed, 1. Only Mexicans or Mexicanized companies have the right to obtain concessions. 2. A concession shall have a maximum surface area of 500 hectares l hr = 10,000 sq. meters). The sides of the con-cession are limited by vertical planes, 3. The total maximum concession area for a company or an individual is limited depending on the substance. However, three times this maximum can be held for a five-year exploration period. As an example for gold, silver, copper, lead and zinc, a maximum of 9000 hectares can be held for the first five years. After this five year period, a maximum of only 3000 hectares can be held. 4. Mining concessions are issued for 25 years but may be extended on proof of effective exploitation. 5. Assessment work is required. D. Taxes. Taxes paid by mining companies include: 4 1. Income Tax. This tax is modarate and has a maximum of 42%. 2. Production and Export Tax. These taxes are based on price set monthly by the Treasury Department. This official value is arbitrary and can change but generally reflects world prices. These taxes are levied whether the Company is making an operating profit or not. 3. Surface Tax. This tax is a rental on mineral concession of $1.20 dollars per hectare per year. 4. Capital Gains. Capital gains are included in gross income but at a reduced percentage depending on the length of time that assets have been held. 5. Depletion. There is no deduction allowed for depletion. 6. Amortization and Depreciation. It can be stated that deductions allowed are those that the tax authorities regard as normal and necessary for conduct of business. 7. Reduction in Taxes for New Mines. A directive calls for a five year reduction of up to 40% income tax and up to 100% of the federal portion of the production and export taxes, and accelerated depreciation and amortization for certain investment in new operations. 8. Other Taxes. Other taxes such as social security payments and distribution of a portion of annual profits to employees are required. E. Metal Prices. Metal prices for sale in Mexico are set by a govern- - 5 - merit agency. These prices are lower than world prices and act to subsidize Mexico's metal-using industries at the expense of the mining industry. F. Favorable Conditions. 1. Stable Government. The Mexican Government is stable and this stability will be entrenched each passing year with the development of a larger middle class and the strong emphasis on education. 2. Financial Stability. Exchange restrictions have never been imposed and funds are freely convertible and transferable to and from Mexico. The exchange rate has remained at 12.50 pesos per U.S. dollar since 1954. An exchange stabilisation agreement exists between Mexico and the International Monetary Fund which permits Mexico to draw on foreign currencies to maintain the parity of the peso. However, Mexico has maintained a favorable balance of payments for numerous years. 3. Low cost labor. Although there is a notable lack of qualified mining and exploration personnel of the highly technical and supervisory calibre, there is plentiful mining labor in the mining regions. In general, the mining labor is efficient and the costs are reason-able. Recent wage raises have been higher than increased productivity and management must work for higher productivity. In recent years strikes of over 15 days duration have been exceptional and peaceful labor relations are the rule. 4. High mineral potential. We can start with the premise that Mexico is a country extremely well endowed with minerals and many ore bodies await to be discovered. The fact that there has not been more than possibly three major metallic mineral discoveries in the last two decades is not that the bodies do not exist but that fiscal conditions have been such that no search has been made - 6 - for them. Now methods and philosophies of exploration have not been tried until very recently but in them lies the great ex-ploration potential of Mexico. There are three general geologic zones in Mexico. The nor-thern zone is separated from the southern zone by the volcanic-rift belt which runs east-west through Mexico City and Guadalaja-ra and has as its most obvious surface feature a belt of Cenozoic volcanics. Most of the mining in Mexico has taken place in the northern zone in which the more acidic intrusive rocks are found. The southern zone contains more basic rocks, and although there are numerous mineral occurrences, the mines are small in size and number. The scarcity of mines in this zone is undoubt-edly due, in great part, to the lack of exploration which is made difficult due to lack of roads and facilities and to the heavy vegetation covering the outcrops. The volcanic-rift belt exhibits difficult exploration con-ditions; the principal ones being the great amount of volcanic cover and the intense faulting. As in the southern zone this area has not received intensive exploration; however, the famous silver deposits of Pachuca, Taxco, El Oro and Guanajuato lie within this region or at its edge. In the northern zone a long, large northwest trending belt of middle Cenozoic volcanics is found, which constitutes the Sierra Madre Occidental. Pew large mines are known within this belt of very thick volcanics; but where the rocks below the volcanics have been exposed, they are abnormally well mineralized. Therefore, here again the scarcity of mines is due to lack of out-crops. In order to investigate the exploration possibilities in greater detail, let us evaluate the situation of various metals. a. Silver. Mexico is and has been for many years (except 1968) the world's leading producer of silver. In the past a majority of the silver came from such bonanza camps as Pachuca, Guanajuato and Tax co where the silver was found in very high-grade deposits with very minor amounts of other metals. Today. most of Mexico's silver is produced as an accessory mineral in the lead and zinc deposits. This means that with lower lead and zinc prices there has been a reduction in the production of silver although silver prices have advanced. Although the bonanza camps have been reported as ""worked out"", there are definite signs that this may not be the case. Recant high-grade discoveries in Guanajuato and Taxco indicate that if modern techniques and vigorous exploration are carried out, it is quite possible that bonanza deposits will be discovered. Silver is well distributed in many parts of Mexico and it would be difficult to pin-point exact locations favorable for exploration. Slide No.2 shows in general the major distribution of silver. Since the environments vary widely, so also would the exploration techniques. In parts of Mexico numerous silver deposits have been known but left unexploited due to lack of roads and facilities. Large, low-grade deposits probably exist but as yet company philosophies have not been such that they would explore for this type of deposit. b. Copper. Copper, like silver, appears to have a future at favor-able prices. Added to this is the great increase in demand for copper by Mexico to satisfy its rapidly expanding industry. Until this year (1970), there has been only one copper mine in Mexico that could be considered major; the Cananea mine which produces approximately 70% of Mexico's copper. The Santa Rosalia mine in Baja California could be considered a medium sized mine and the rest of the present copper production comes from very small mines or as a minor mineral from other base metal mines. Because of this limited production, Mexico is presently producing just enough copper to supply its internal demand. This picture, however, is changing rapidly. In early 1971, Asarco Mexicana, S.A. will bring into production their Inguarn mine, in the State of Michoacn, which will have a mill capacity of 2000 metric tons per day of 1.8% copper which will more than take care of Mexico's immediate industrial demands for copper. Then in the future lies the immense deposit, La Ca-ridad, of Mexicana de Cobre, which has reserves in excess of 600 million metric tons of 0.75% copper with values in molybdenum. The exact size of this deposit is as yet unknown. Work is now underway to bring this deposit into production in 1974. -8- The reason for not producing more copper in Mexico has been the lack of exploration incentive by the mining companies. The small prospector is not equipped to explore for bulk, low-grade copper deposits and only in the last year or so have major companies made an exerted effort in this field. A very favorable copper mineral province exists in the State of Sonora, Perhaps the most important structural characteristic of this area is its location (Slide #3) along the north-trending Wasatch-Jerome crustal lineament at or near its intersection with the northwest-trending Texas lineament. Correlation between these lineaments and the distribution of the bulk low-grade deposits has been remarkable. Mexico's largest copper producer at Cananea and the previously mentioned La Caridad deposit lie along the Wasatch-Jerome near the intersection with the Texas lineament. Although northern Sonora is a most favorable area in which to explore for copper, this area should not be considered as the only target area since favorable areas exist in other parts of Mexico. Molybdenum can often be expected as an accessory metal with the copper mineralization. If unfavorable conditions for mining investment in Zambia, Peru and Chile -all major copper producing countries- continue or worsen, Mexico will become a major exporter of copper within the next ten years. Even if conditions become better in those countries, Mexico will still play a major role as a copper producing country. c. Lead and Zinc. Although the long term picture for lead and zinc, with silver as an accessory metal, may not be as bright as for copper, established smelter capacity and both local and foreign markets exist and, therefore, exploration for lead and zinc can be con-sidered by both large and small companies. For many years there has been little exploration for new lead and zinc deposits and there has been no exploration with the use of modern tools for locating unexposed bodies. The greatest exploration provinces for lead and zinc are shown on Slide #5. In these areas substantial silver values associated with the lead and zinc could be expected. - 9 d. Other Metals and Minerals. Mexico is a major producer of fluorite, barite, mercury, tungsten and antimony. Exploration will continue for these ma-terials depending primarily on world prices. i IV. SUMMARY OF CONDITIONS. Prom the foregoing, we can quickly summarize the conditions that exist in Mexico that directly affect investment in the mining industry. A. Regulatory. 1. Mexicanization. The requirement of majority investment by Mexican nationals by itself is certainly not unfavorable; however, risk capital is difficult to find. 2. Immigration Restrictions. It is often difficult to obtain highly technical personnel and companies are limited to the number of foreign personnel they can hire. 3. Mining Law. The mining law has been updated and is meant to broaden the mining industry base in Mexico. However restrictions and control are an essential part of the law. 4. Taxes. Income Taxes are moderate but production and ex-port, taxes are a severance tax not based on profit. There is no reduction in taxes for depletion. 5. Metal Prices. Mexico's industry is subsidised at the expense of the mining industry through official prices set slightly lower than world prices -10- B. Favorable. l. Mexico is a mineral-rich country. 2. Mexico has a stable government. 3. Mexico has a strong-convertible currency. 4. Direct production costs for medium to large operations are low. 5. The proximity to the United States assures a large market in addition to the growing market in Mexico. Future. The most striking feature about Mexico today is the tremendous social gains. Education receives, by far, the largest share of the national budget; health facilities are readily available and are ex-panding; electricity and roads are coming to the small villages and wages are being raised in an attempt to make even the poor farmer a consumer. Mexico is expanding industrially to keep in step with the local demands and manufacturing more and more of its necessities in or-der to reduce the need to import, which makes its trade balance more favorable. Mexico yearly increases the export of manufactured goods where previously the country had only been an exporter of raw material and crafts. Politically Mexicans are, and should be, proud of their ancient past and their recant history. They are, therefore, ready and anxious to work with foreign companies if this partership will assist in the development of Mexico as a country and to the advantage of the Mexican people. The exploitation of Mexico to the advantage of other peoples is a thing of the past. Mexico is a developed country and expects to be treated as such. The Mexican mining industry offers an opportunity to those willing to study the problems accept the laws and invest in the social -as well as financial- future of Mexico. D.F. Coolbaugh Mexico, D.F. Mexico, May 1970. 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Southern slaveholders proudly pronounced themselves orthodox Christians, who accepted responsibility for the welfare of the people who worked for them. They proclaimed that their slaves enjoyed a better and more secure life than any laboring class in the world. Now, did it not follow that the lives of laborers of all races across the world would be immeasurably improved by their enslavement? In the Old South but in no other slave society a doctrine emerged among leading clergymen, politicians, and intellectuals -- "Slavery in the Abstract," which declared enslavement the best possible condition for all labor regardless of race. They joined the Socialists, whom they studied, in believing that the free-labor system, wracked by worsening class warfare, was collapsing. A vital question: to what extent did the people of the several social classes of the South accept so extreme a doctrine? That question lies at the heart of this book. - Publisher

In this paper, we consider a spatiotemporal growth model where a social planner chooses the optimal location of economic activity across space by maximization of a spatiotemporal utilitarian social welfare function. Space and time are continuous, and capital law of motion is a parabolic partial differential diffusion equation. The production function is AK. We generalize previous work by considering a continuum of social welfare functions ranging from Benthamite to Millian functions. Using a dynamic programming method in infinite dimension, we can identify a closed-form solution to the induced HJB equation in infinite dimension and recover the optimal control for the original spatiotemporal optimal control problem. Optimal stationary spatial distributions are also obtained analytically. We prove that the Benthamite case is the unique case for which the optimal stationary detrended consumption spatial distribution is uniform. Interestingly enough, we also find that as the social welfare function gets closer to the Millian case, the optimal spatiotemporal dynamics amplify the typical neoclassical dilution population size effect, even in the long-run.

Sciences Po Economics Discussion Papers This paper studies discrimination in financial markets in the context of the "Dreyfus Affair" in 19th century France. We analyze the market performance of firms with Jewish board members during this historical episode. Building on empirical evidence and a model with antisemitic and unbiased agents, we show how investors betting on firms with Jewish connections earned higher returns during the media campaign organized to rehabilitate Dreyfus, the unfairly accused Jewish officer at the center of the Affair. Our paper provides novel evidence that discrimination can affect stock prices and create rents for some market participants. While these rents may attract betting against discriminators, the uncertainty surrounding discriminatory beliefs can limit the extent of arbitrage and allow discrimination to survive in the long run.

In the mining sector, governments must be able to reconcile two objectives: to attract foreign direct investment to exploit the resource and to capture a sufficient share of the mining rent to finance development. This problem has been known for a long time, and it certainly raises the question of the sharing of the mining rent between the actors; however, it should also highlight the importance of the progressiveness of tax regimes. Progressive taxation is one of, if not the main, the criteria that could provide lasting reassurance for investors and guarantee that the State can capture a "fair" share of the rent generated by the sector. Though several studies differentiate between tax instruments according to their economic effects, none seek to assess the ability of African mining regimes to adapt the tax burden paid by the investor to the profitability of projects. The tax database made available by the Foundation for International Development Studies and Research (FERDI), in partnership with the Centre for International Development Studies and Research (CERDI) and the International Centre for Taxation and Development, lists the 12 main taxes and duties that have applied under the legislation since 1980 to industrial companies in the gold sector in 21 African countries. When applied to the economic data of representative African mines, this database allows researchers and analysts to build indicators to identify the tax regimes most likely to reconcile the actors in the sector, while taking into account their complexity. The results of our analysis show 1) that the share of mining rent received by governments is very heterogeneous between countries, and 2) that "innovations" in terms of tax design have only mitigated, in the best of cases, the regressiveness of tax systems. ; Dans le secteur minier, les États doivent être en mesure de concilier deux objectifs : attirer les investissements directs étrangers pour exploiter la ressource et capter une part suffisante de la rente minière pour financer le ...

Using daily price quotes from about 8,000 French gas stations, this paper empirically analyses whether the level of competition determines the degree of price stickiness on the retail gasoline market. The degree of price rigidity is measured by the frequency of price changes, while the distance to the nearest station and the number of gas stations within a given radius are considered as proxies for local competition. The results confirm that local competition is an important determinant of the price-setting behavior of gas stations. Indeed, considering Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) and spatial regression models, we find that the degree of price rigidity is positively related to the distance to the nearest station, and negatively related to the concentration of firms in a given geographical area. This result can be notably explained by the fact that gas stations facing a high competitive pressure are more likely to adjust their prices more quickly and more frequently in response to crude oil price decreases than stations enjoying market power.

This work proposes to study the emergence of aggregate instability, in the form of macroeconomic fluctuations due to the volatility of agents' expectations, caused by imperfect competition on the labor market. We consider that firms have some monopsony power which is introduced by a) considering that firms face a finite elasticity of labor supply, b) there is a finite number of firms operating under Cournot competition on the labor market. We show that given a free-entry and zero profit conditions, we obtain local indeterminacy when the elasticity of the sectoral labor supply is sufficiently low and factors are substitutable enough. We illustrate numerically our results with some empirical estimates for OECD countries and we conclude that expectation-driven fluctuations is obtained for plausible values.

International audience Using Benford's Law, we find evidence supporting the hypothesis that countries at times misreport their economic data strategically. We group countries with similar economic conditions and find that for countries with fixed exchange rate regimes, high negative net foreign asset positions, negative current account balances or more vulnerable to capital flow reversals we reject the first-digit law for the balance of payments data. This corroborates the intuition of a simple economic model. The main results do not seem to be driven by countries in Sub-Saharan Africa or those with low institutional quality ratings.

national audience taking the view of the regulator, we seek to answer the following questions: what is the role of AV today in a context where the authorities are committed to CSR? Are CSR and AV substitutes or supplements from the point of view of public authorities? What is the influence of CSR on the social well-being that can be achieved with an AV? ; Are Corporate Social Responsibility and Voluntary Agreements Complementary ? Voluntary agreements between regulators and firms have been in use for at least two decades. In recent years, however,firms have tended to commit to better environmental or social behavior in a more unilateral fashion. This phenomenon isknown as the rise of "Corporate Social Responsibility" (CSR). In such circumstances, are voluntary agreements stillwelfare-enhancing ? To explore this question, we use a policy game involving a regulator and a firm. We show that theanswer is ambiguous. In particular, it depends on the regulator's bargaining power. ; national audience taking the view of the regulator, we seek to answer the following questions: what is the role of AV today in a context where the authorities are committed to CSR? Are CSR and AV substitutes or supplements from the point of view of public authorities? What is the influence of CSR on the social well-being that can be achieved with an AV? ; National audience En adoptant le point de vue du régulateur, nous cherchons à répondre aux questions suivantes : quel est le rôle des AV aujourd'hui dans un contexte où les firmes s'engagent dans la RSE ? RSE et AV sont-ils des substituts ou des compléments du point de vue de la puissance publique ? Quelle est l'influence de la RSE sur le bien-être social atteignable avec un AV ?