I am a full Professor of economics at the Paris School of Economics, Université Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne, a scientific advisor to CEPII (Centre d’Etudes Prospectives et d’Informations Internationales, Paris) and a CESifo Research Fellow (Munich).
I co-organise the Paris Trade Seminar. I am in charge of the French node of the interdisciplinary EU Trade and Investment Policy ITN (EUTIP) project, funded by EU’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement #721916. I am a member of the Cercle des Economistes Curriculum VitaeVitae (English)
|
|
- Trade elasticity is a crucial parameter in evaluating the welfare impacts of trade liberalization or return to protectionism. Trade elasticities estimated for 5,000+ product categories are now provided [here].
Research interests
My fields of interest are international trade and investment, trade policies and long term issues. A couple of studies addressing the current challenges for the world economy are worth mentioning.
- On the Brexit, I have co-authored in February 2011 a report commissioned by the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) of the British Government, then headed by Vincent Cable. The ambition was to insist on the benefits of the remain rather than on the costs of the leave, as suggested by the title: The Economic Consequences for the UK and the EU of Completing the Single Market. I had the opportunity in November 2016 to give my views on Openness, Trade and FDI after the Brexit at the London School of Economics, in the public session backing the preparation of the 2017 report UK Growth, a New Chapter - a report drafted by the LSE Growth Commission, namely by Timothy Besley, Stephen Machin and Nicholas Stern. To me, soft Brexit - with sustained market access - is vital for future of UK trade and prosperity, as explained in a short video.
- The resurgence of protectionism and the new policy stance in the United States are also threats for the global economy. The book co-edited with Ann Harrison in March 2017 - The Factory Free Economy - addresses the big shift of the US industry and its social consequences putting at risk the political support for an open economy. The future of the WTO is indeed at stake: the High-Level Board of Experts on the Future of Global Trade Governance chaired by Bernard Hoekman released on July 17, 2018 a report that elaborates a series of feasible policy recommendations that will increase the effectiveness and salience of the WTO. Read here our recommendations. Since the beginning of 2018, the US administration has announced and implemented several measures limiting trade with their partners, in particular China. A series of tariffs targeting USD 11 bn EU exports has also been announced on April 8th 2019, their implementation being conditional on the results of the WTO arbitration on aircrafts expected in summer. These decisions have fueled retaliation and led to a trade war. I show in a joint contribution with Cecilia Bellora that, because of the measures in place as of early January 2019, China and the United States will both experience GDP losses. As a result of vertical linkages along the value chains, three quarters of the sectors decrease their value added in the US, suggesting that with this tariff war the US are shooting themselves in the foot.
- For the UK as for the US, geography is however a binding constraint that will shape policy decisions: proximity to the European Single Market for the former, and common border with Mexico for the latter. A blog posted in January 2017 explains why Canada and Mexico are the two more “natural” trading partners for the US.
- It is indeed urgent to curb emissions in order to contain the climate change. The new European Commission has announced policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions drastically. Reaching such ambitious target for a global good – the climate – would theoretically require a common price for carbon worldwide. This however clashes with the free-riding problem: non participating countries benefit from the efforts of countries abatting their emissions. Eventually, European efforts will be jeopardized by carbon leakages and distorted competitiveness. I study Carbon Border Adjustment and alternatives policies contemplated by the EU in a co-authored briefing for the European Parliament. One challenge is to design stable coalitions of countries engaging in ambitious policies. A way of incentivizing cooperation among participants and enlarging the coalition could be to embrace William Nordhaus’ proposal on climate clubs as argued in a co-authored policy brief of the French Council of Economic Analysis. Finance has also a role to play: over 80 economists signed on to this Declaration on Climate Finance urging institutions to take climate finance seriously and immediately end investments in fossil fuels.