Les pays developpes consomment 80% des ressources mondiales alors que
certaines d'entre elles ne sont pas renouvelables.

Ce constat doit nous amener a remettre en question notre mode de
daveloppement qui d'une part, porte atteinte a l'environnement et
d'autre part, pose un probleme de repartition non seulement entre les
pays pauvres et les pays riches mais aussi entre les generations.

Il paraissait donc important de faire le point sur cette problematique a la
veille du sommet de Copenhague:

     * comment prendre conscience des multiples problemes engendres par
       notre *mode de consommation*?
     * le developpement durable constitue-t-il une reponse a ces defis?
       En quoi consiste-t-il?
     * comment reuire nos impacts ecologiques et sociaux ?
     * qu'est-ce que le commerce euitable ? Quel role peut-il jouer?
     * comment inciter les jeunes consommateurs a modifier leur
       comportement?
     * comment l'entreprise peut-elle integrer le developpement
       durable a son activite? Cette action constitue-t-elle une
       contrainte ou une opportunite ? Quels obstacles peut-elle
       rencontrer? Quelle peut etre l'influence des "stakeholders"?
     * quel est le role de l'economie sociale?
     * enfin, comment mettre l'ecole en projet autour du developpement
       durable?


Ces questions vous interessent? Vous y trouverez les reponses dans la
premiere partie du troisieme dossier structure 2009-2010 intitule

"Le developpement durable, un mode de croissance alternatif? Quelles
modifications des comportements du consommateur et de  l'entreprise
implique-t-il? "


Pour le consulter:

1. revenez a ce courriel apres vous etre identifie sur le site du CeDES a
l'adresse http://www.cedes.be ,
2.cliquez sur le lien :
http://www.cedes.be/dossiers-structures/annee-en-cours/dossier-3-le-developpemen\
t-durable-un-mode-de-croissance-alternatif-partie-1-les-modifications-du-comport\
ement-du-consommateur-et-de-lentreprise-03-12-2009

Pour en savoir plus, inscrivez-vous a la formation continuee organisee
par le CeDES, le 22/01/2010 et qui porte sur le theme "Des strategies
de developpement durable pour les entreprises: mythe ou realite?".
Suivez le lien :
http://www.cedes.be/formations/des-strategies-de-developpement-durable-pour-les-\
entreprises-mythe-ou-realite

Econometrics seminar
Albert J. MENKVELD

Price pressures

Date and place:

Wednesday, December 16,  2009 at 14h30
CORE - room b 135

Abstract:

We study price pressures  i.e. price deviations from fundamental values due to a
risk-averse intermediary supplying liquidity to
asynchronously arriving investors with idiosyncratic hedging values.

In our model, the intermediary uses price pressure to mean-revert
costly inventory by trading off the size of the price pressure against
the cost of remaining in a risky inventory state.

Price pressure is associated with the social cost of lower realization of
investor hedging value because the intermediary's efforts to mean revert
inventory substitutes low-hedge-value investors on the side of the market that
reduces the risk of the intermediary's position for high- hedge-value investors
on the risk-increasing side.

Empirically, twelve  years of daily New York Stock Exchange (NYSE)
intermediary data reveal  economically large price pressures and
associated social costs. A  $100,000 inventory shock causes an average
price pressure of 0.28% and  the average transitory volatility in daily stock
returns (average price pressure) is 0.49% with substantially larger price
pressure effects in smaller stocks.

The aggregate lost hedging gains are estimated to be $60 billion for all NYSE
common stocks for our sample period. (This is joint work with T. Hendershott.)

A paper is available - Please consult our web page:
http://www.uclouvain.be/en-43677.html

Concerne: Invitation seminaire IWEPS - CESRW 15/12/2009

En septembre dernier, la Commission « Stiglitz-Sen » remettait au
President francais, M. Nicolas Sarkozy, son rapport sur la mesure des
performances economiques et du progres social. La publication de ce
rapport -- et les travaux de cette Commission -- ont fait naitre debats et
reflexions.

Pour alimenter et participer pleinement a ces raflexions, l'IWEPS
(Institut wallon de l'evaluation, de la prospective et de la
statistique) et le CESRW (Conseil economique et social de la Region
wallonne) ont decide d'organiser le *15 decembre prochain, de 9h a  12h30 aux
Moulins de Beez,* un seminaire scientifique intitule « Mesure des performances
economiques et du progres social».
Participera notamment a cet evenement, M. Jean Gadrey de l'Universite de Lille,
membre de la Commission STIGLITZ.

Programme et inscription sur

http://statistiques.wallonie.be/dyn/14/article12.ihtml?ID_SITE=14&ID_CATEGORIE=1\
28&ID_ARTICLE=973&NOM_CATEGORIE=0BE&CAT=12

Evelyne Istace
Chargee de la communication
Institut wallon de l'evaluation, de la prospective et de la statistique (IWEPS)
Rue du Fort de Suarlee, 1
B-5001 Belgrade  (Namur)
TÃel: 081/46 84 36
Fax: 081/46 84 12
E.Istace(at)iweps.be
http://statistiques.wallonie.be

CALL for Papers:

8th OxMetrics' User Conference
18-19 March 2010
George Washington University,
Washington DC, U.S.A.

Conference Theme:

The conference will provide a forum for the exchange of research results and
practical experiences within the fields of computational and financial
econometrics, empirical economics, time-series and cross-section statistics and
applied mathematics.

The conference is open to all those interested, not just to OxMetrics' users,
from academic and non-academic  organizations.

Presentation topics

-  Discussion of user-written OxMetrics programs
-  Case studies of research or teaching using OxMetrics
-  Discussions of data management problems
-  Reviews of analytical issues
-  Surveys or critiques of OxMetrics facilities in specific fields,
etc.

Keynote speakers

Prof. Sir David F. Hendry
(Developer of PcGive)

'Empirical Model Discovery'

Dr. Jurgen A. Doornik
(Principal - OxMetrics Technologies)

'Flu Forecasting: Can Web Search Data Really Help?'

Prof. Siem Jan Koopman
(Developer of STAMP and SsfPack)

'Signal Extraction and Forecasting based on Unobserved Components:
Univariate and Multivariate Approaches'

Dr.Sebastien Laurent
(Developer of G@RCH)

'Robust Estimation of DCC-GARCH Models,
by Kris Boudt - JonDanielsson - Sebastien Laurent

Dr. Neil Ericsson

'Empirical Model Selection: Friedman and Schwartz Revisited'

Prof. Frederick L. Joutz

'Modeling and Forecasting Electricity Consumption in Norway',
by Stein-Erik Fleten, Sjur Westgaard (Department of Industrial
Economics and Technology Management, Norwegian University of
Science and Technology) & Frederick Joutz

Submission of an abstract/paper:

Please submit an abstract and full paper by email to
Prof Frederick L. Joutz ( Mail : bmark(at)gwu.edu ) on or before 31 December
2009.

The abstract should be no more than 200 words and the paper should be in PDF
format.

Decisions on submissions will be made by 15th January 2010.

You should indicate whether you wish to give:

1.  A 20 min talk (followed by 10 min discussion)

2.  A 10 min talk (followed by 5 min discussion),or,

3.  A longer review or tutorial (about 45 minutes followed by 15 minutes
discussion).

Online registration is available now on :

http://www.timberlake.co.uk/inforeq/courses/oxmetrics_form.html

What is OxMetrics?

OxMetrics' is a modular software system providing an integrated solution for the
econometric analysis of time series, forecasting, financial econometric modeling
and for the statistical analysis of cross-section and panel data. The OxMetrics
modules are: Ox Professional , PcGive , STAMP, G@RCH, SsfPack and TSP/OxMetrics.

OxMetrics is available within a user friendly GUI interface and
has extensive graphical reporting.

OxMetrics does not finish there - it also offers a powerful module - Ox
Professional, an object-oriented programming language - that allows power users
to implement latest theoretical developments and/or integrated packages.

For further details visit:

http://www.oxmetrics.net
http://www.tspintl.com

Economic Theory seminar

Claudio A. PIGA

The circular city with heterogenous firms


Monday, December 14,  2009 at 16h
CORE - room b-135

Abstract:

The paper extends the circular model of localized competition by
allowing firms to have heterogeneous costs.

We provide a general but highly tractable solution for the equilibrium
prices evoking Chamberlinâ's 'domino effect' in chain-linked markets, and we
study  the long-run properties of the model using two different entry games.

We show that cost heterogeneity affects the efficiency of the market
equilibrium by increasing welfare and inducing less excessive entry.

Further, we illustrate the positive effects of the existence of a
selection mechanism, which induces less efficient firms not to start
production.

The model also replicates some recent results on dense markets.

(This is joint work with M. Alderighi.)

A paper is available for consultation

Please consult our web page :
http://www.uclouvain.be/en-44411.html

L'invite de l'emission economique "Entrepremiere" ce samedi etaitJean
Hindriks (UCL/CORE).
Il etait interroge sur sa vision de la fonction publique.

Son interview est disponible sur :

http://www.rtbf.be/info/economie/fonctionnaires/moderniser-la-fonction-publique-\
le-defi-de-jean-hindriks-164958

et

http://mediaserver.rtbf.be/sites/rtbf-media/themes/rtbfmedia/iPlayer/MediaPlayer\
.php?openFunction=getMediaObjectById&openValue=61646

ESHIA/WEHIA 2010: First call for papers

The ESHIA/WEHIA 2010 workshop organized by the Society for Economic
Science with Heterogeneous Interacting Agents will take place at the
Science Building of the University of Eastern Piedmont, viale T. Michel
11, 15121, Alessandria, Italy from June 23rd to June 25th, 2010.

Workshop e-mail: eshia2010(at)gmail.com

Workshop web page: http://sites.google.com/site/eshia2010/home

Please note that there is no participation fee, but subscription to the
Society for Economic Science with Heterogeneous Interacting Agents
is mandatory. The subscription fee is 70 euros.

You are warmly invited to submit full papers (short abstract or extended
abstract will not be accepted) using EasyChair:

https://www.easychair.org/login.cgi?conf=eshia2010

within February 15, 2010.

Important deadlines:

February 15, 2010: paper submission
April 15, 2010: notification of acceptance
May 15, 2010: registration
June 23, 2010: workshop begins

Best regards

Enrico Scalas (on behalf of the Program Committee)

'Das bedingungslose Grundeinkommen:
ein Blick auf seine politische Realisierbarkeit'

Yannick VANDERBORGHT & Philippe VAN PARIJS,

in

Der Grundeinkommensvorschlag,
Manuel Franzmann
ed.,Wiesbaden: VS Verlag, 2009,
pp. 329-59


http://www.uclouvain.be/8680.html

« Louvain » fiscAL

Mardi 15 décembre 2009
de 16h30 à 18h30
local DOYEN 22, 2ième étage du Collège Doyens,
Place des Doyens à Louvain-la-Neuve

« Les évolutions de la taxe carbone »

La rencontre sera introduite par
Kurt Deketelaere
(KUL)
et
Vincent Van Steenberghe
(SPF Santé Publique - ICHEC)

L’accès est gratuit, mail il est demandé de s’inscrire auprès de
savina.princen(at)uclouvain.be

Faut-il  s'attaquer aux inegalites de revenus?

Mardi 1/12/09 12.45 -13.55,
Leclercq 93,
1 Place Montesquieu,
LLN

Midi de l'ethique introduit par
Robert PLASMAN
(directeur du DULBEA)
&
Baudouin DUBUISSON
(President du CA de la SA Nanocyl)

Info : http://www.uclouvain.be/8324.html

Christian Arnsperger offers a detailed plea for methodological pluralism in
economics.

This book asks how a more liberating economics could be constructed and taught.

It suggests that if economists today are serious about emancipation and
empowerment, they will have to radically change their conception about what it
means for a citizen to act rationally in a complex society.

Arnsperger emphasises that current economics neglects an important fact: Many of
us ask not only 'what's in it for us', within a given socio-economic context; we
also care about the context itself.

The author argues that if citizens keen on exercising their critical reason
actually demanded economic theories that allowed them to do so, economics would
have to become a constantly emerging, open-ended knowledge process.

He claims that in a truly free economy, there would be no all-out war between
'orthodox' and 'heterodox' approaches, but an intricate and unpredictable
'post-orthodox' pluralism that would emerge from the citizens' own complex
interactions.

Offering an original and path-breaking combination of insights from Hayek, the
theory of complexity, and the Frankfurt School of social criticism, Arnsperger
discusses how such a free economy would generate its specific brand of
economics, called 'Critical Political Economy'.

Christian Arnsperger
Routledge Frontiers of Political Economy
Critical Political Economy
ISBN: 978-0-415-56937-8
Routledge
15/11/2009
352 pages

Source : http://www.uclouvain.be/144647.html

Econometrics seminar

Geert DHAENE

Split-panel jackknife estimation of fixed-effect models

Wednesday,  December 9,  2009 at 14h30
CORE - room b-135

A paper is available for consultation - Please consult our web page:
http://www.uclouvain.be/en-43677.html

IRES Seminar

Thursday, December 3, from 12:50 to 14:00
Dupriez Building, Room Paul Rousseaux,
3, Place Montesquieu BE-148 LLN

Michel Beine

"Does the Canadian economy suffer From Dutch Disease ?"

Abstract :

We argue that the failure to disentangle the evolution of the Canadian
currency and energy and commodity prices from the U.S. currency leads to
potentially wrong incorrect conclusions regarding the case of a Dutch
disease in Canada.

We propose a new approach that is aimed at extracting both currency
components and energy- and commodity- prices components from observed
exchange rates and prices.

We first analyze the separate influence of commodity prices on the
Canadian and the U.S. currency components.

We then estimate the separate impact of the two currency components on the
shares of manufacturing employment in Canada.

We show that 33 per cent of the manufacturing employment loss that was due
to exchange rate developments between 2002 and 2007 is related to the
Dutch disease phenomenon.

The remaining 67 per cent of the employment loss can be ascribed to the
weakness of the U.S. currency.

Info on: http://www.uclouvain.be/7456.html

Images sur http://www.uclouvain.be/305624.html

Le Président de l’Equateur était de retour à l’UCL à Louvain-la-Neuve

Ambiance de fête, en toute simplicité, hier soir.

Le président de la république d’Equateur, Rafael Correa Delgado, était en
visite officielle, en compagnie de son épouse, Françoise Malherbe, et d'une
nombreuse délégation officielle Equatorienne.

Étaient présents ses anciens collègues de l'AGL, le Cercle Internanional des
étudiants étrangers (CIEE), de Carrefour, ... la salle des promotions des
Halles n'étaient pas assez grande pour recevoir tous ses amis et les
responsables des services internationaux de l'UCL, Bernard Hanin de Louvain
Développement, etc.

Accueilli par le recteur qui a rappelé, et célébré, ce qu'était
l'engagement de l'UCL dans la société et dans le monde, il a délivré une
allocution, en français, sur le processus de changement démocratique,
économique et social en Amérique latine et dans son pays et particulièrement
l'éclosion d'une pensée sociale humaniste appropriée aux besoins des diverses
populations.

Il y a été étudiant en économie, diplômé de maîtrise en juin 1991, ce
dont s'est félicité Bernard Fierens-Gevaert qui lui a remis un diplôme de
membre honorifique de l'Association des économistes de Louvain, sous les
chaleureux applaudissements de l’assistance. C'est avec émotion qu'il a
échangé 'un gran abrazo' à son ami François Houtart, Prix de l'UNESCO 2009
qui lui a remis les publications les plus récentes du CETRI (Centre
tri-continental à Louvain-la-Neuve).

Comme l'a rappelé le recteur Bruno Delvaux,  Rafael Correa Delgado, déjà
très charismatique lors de son passage à l’UCL, y a laissé de nombreux
souvenirs. Le Président équatorien était membre actif de l’Assemblée
générale des étudiants de Louvain, président du Cercle des étudiants
étrangers, initiateurs de l’expérience des "cours métisses" et participant
des "mercredi de la guitare". Il a également participé aux 24 heures vélos.
"Mon premier vélo, c’était à Louvain-la-Neuve", s’est souvenu Rafael
Correa Delgado. C’est aussi sur le site universitaire que le président a
rencontré celle qui est devenue son épouse, une étudiante en éducation
physique d’origine namuroise.

Econometrics seminar

Jurgen A.  DOORNIK,

Econometric model selection with more variables than observations

Wednesday,  December 2,  2009 at 14h30
CORE - room b-135

Abstract:

Several algorithms for indicator saturation are compared and found to
have low power when there are multiple breaks.

A new algorithm is introduced, based on repeated application of an automatic
model selection procedure (Autometrics, see Doornik, 2009) which is based on
thee general-to-specific approach.

The new algorithm can also be applied in the general case of more variables than
observations.

The performance of this new algorithm is investigated through Monte Carlo
analysis.

The relationship between indicator saturation and robust estimation is
explored.

Building an the results of Johansen and Nielsen (2009), the
asymptotic distribution of multi-step indicator saturation is derived,
as well as the effiiency of the two-step variance.

Next, the asymptotic distribution of multi-step robust estimation using two
different critical values (a low one at first) is derived.

The asymptotic distribution of the fully iterated case is conjectured, as
is the asymptotic distribution of reweighted least squares based on
least trimmed squares (Rousseeuw, 1984)), called RLTS here.

This allows for a comparison of the efficiency of indicator saturation with
RLTS.

Finally, the performance of several robust estimators and the new
approach is studied in the presence of a structural break.

When there are many irrelevant regressors in the model, the robust estimators
break down while the new algorithm is largely unaffected.

A paper is available for consultation - Please consult our web page:
http://www.uclouvain.be/en-43677.html

Call for papers.

As part of the activities of the International Journal of Financial
Markets and Derivatives (Inderscience Pub), we are organising a special issue on
the use of Computational Methods in Financial Engineering.
For further details prospective authors should consult the special issue
announcement at the journal's official website:

http://www.inderscience.com/browse/callpaper.php?callID=1275

IES Research Seminar
Thursday, November 26, from 12:50 to 14:00
College L.-H. Dupriez
Salla Paul Rousseaux
3, Place Montesquieu
Be-1348 Louvain-la-Neuve

Assaf Razin
(Cornell University and Tel Aviv University)

"Implications of the Generosity of the Welfare State for the Skill
Composition of Migration"

Abstract :

Skilled migrants typically contribute to the welfare state more than
they draw in benefits from it.

The opposite holds for unskilled migrants. This suggests that a host
country is likely to boost (respectively, curtail) its welfare system when
absorbing high-skill (respectively, low-skill) migration.

In this paper we first examine this hypothesis in a politico-economic setup.

We then confront the prediction of the theory with evidence.

In doing so, we reckon with an endogeneity problem that arise because the skill
composition of migration is itself affected by the generosity of the welfare
state.


Info: http://www.uclouvain.be/7456.html

Chres amis de l'ADEL,

Le Compte rendu de la conference de Paul Krugman, prix Nobel d'economie 2008, @
Louvain-la-Neuve sera bientot disponible

- sur le site de la SRIW (

http://www.sriw.be/fr/start.php?iCategoryId=105

) et

- sur le site de l'UCL (
http://www.uclouvain.be/303680.html
)

Pour patienter encore un peu, voici un texte qui est plus dans le theme que nous
traitions avec Jacques Dreze lors de notre derniere conference de David
Colander, la semaine passee @ Louvain-la-Neuve,
texte rencontre sur http://web.mit.edu/krugman/www/ et specialement ce texte
"TWO CHEERS FOR FORMALISM" sur

http://web.mit.edu/krugman/www/formal.html

"Attacks on the excessive formalism of economics - on its reliance on
abstract models, on its use of too much mathematics - have been a constant for
the past 150 years.
Some of those attacks have come from knowledgeable insiders - from the
likes of McCloskey (1997) or even Marshall.
More often, however, the attacks have come from outsiders - from journalists,
political crusaders, and so on.

In this essay I want to make three points.

First, much of the criticism of formalism in economics is an attack on a straw
man: the reality of what good economists do is a lot less
formalistic than the popular image.
Bad economists, of course, do bad economics; but one should not confuse a
complaint about quality with a complaint about methodology.

Second, when outsiders criticize formalism in economics, their real
complaint is often not about method but about content - in particular,
they dislike "formalistic" arguments not because they are formalistic, but
because they refute their pet doctrines.

Finally, as a practical matter formalism is crucial to progress in
economic thought - even when it turns out that the ideas initially
developed with the help of formal analysis can in the end, with some work, be
expressed in plain English. Moreover, this is especially true precisely in the
sorts of areas that economists are often accused of neglecting, such as those
that involve imperfect competition, incomplete rationality, and so on.

DIXIT Paul Krugman.

Paul Krugman ouvre un nouveau site sur

http://www.princeton.edu/~pkrugman/

Nous avons le plaisir de vous inviter au 1er forum de FAIR (Forum pour
d'Autres Indicateurs de Richesse) qui se tiendra le 15 decembre 2009, des 14h00
au Moulin de Beez (Namur).

En septembre dernier, la Commission "Stiglitz-Sen" remettait @ Nicolas
Sarkozy, son "rapport sur la mesure des performances economiques et du
progres social". La publication de ce rapport et les travaux de cette
commission- ont fait naitre debats et reflexions sur la definition et la mesure
de nouveaux indicateurs du bien-etre dans la societe.

Il est apparu evident @ FAIR que ce debat ne pouvait pas etre laisse entre les
mains des experts. Raison pour laquelle nous vous invitons @ venir en discuter
avec nous.

Vous trouverez le programme complet de ce premier forum en annexe ainsi que sur
le site de FAIR Wallonie-Bruxelles (heberge sur le site de l'Union des Villes et
Communes de Wallonie :  http://www.uvcw.be/ ) @ l'adresse suivante :

http://www.uvcw.be/articles/3,726,38,38,3165.htm

La participation est gratuite mais l'inscription est obligatoire.

Merci de vous inscrire @ l'adresse suivante tph(at)uvcw.be.

Dans l'attente du plaisir de vous rencontrer le 15 decembre prochain, nous vous
prions de croire, Madame, Monsieur, @ l'assurance de nos sentiments les
meilleurs.

Marc Installe

P.S. : Pour information, le CESRW et l'IWEPS organisent dans la matinee (des
9h00) au meme endroit et le meme jour, un colloque scientifique sur ces
indicateurs de performance economique.

Des informations complementaires peuvent etre obtenues @ l'adresse
n.stassin(at)iweps.be

Chers collegues economistes de l'ADEL,

J'aimerais vous convier le vendredi 4 decembre 2009 @ 20h au "Bozar".

Le 4 decembre 2009, plus de 150 artistes uniront leurs voix pour interpreter le
Stabat Mater de Pergolesi, la 4eme Symphonie italienne en La  Majeur de
Mendelssohn et le Requiem en do mineur de Cherubini dans le cadre prestigieux de
la salle Henry Le Boeuf du Palais des Beaux-Arts.

Sous la direction de Daniel Lipnik (Farinelli, Le Roi Danse, Le huitieme
jour,...) les choeurs de Louvain-la-Neuve La Badinerie  et Il Diletto Vocale,
les solistes Aurelie Moreels et Inez Carsauw ainsi que les membres des
orchestres Music for Pleasure et Les Plaisirs Symphoniques seront sur scene dans
un meme elan de generosite au profit du projet de lutte contre la maladie de
Chagas que Louvain Cooperation au Developpement mene en Bolivie.

Depuis 2003, Louvain Cooperation au Developpement a obtenu des resultats
tangibles dans la lutte contre cette affection parasitaire qui provoque des
defigurations ainsi que des troubles cardiaques et digestifs mortels chez les
enfants de Bolivie.
En 5 ans, 501 enfants ont ete sauves  dans la petite commune de San Lucas, et
6700 familles ont ete rendues moins vulnerables @ la maladie. Grace au soutien
obtenu lors de la soiree, Louvain Développement etendra son action à  cinq
municipalites voisines, ce qui permettra @ 100.000 personnes de beneficier de
son apport.

En etant parmi nous le 4 decembre, vous faites beaucoup plus qu'une simple
action pour notre ONG, sachant que 30 Euro suffisent @ vacciner un enfant et
assainir la maison d'une famille, vous contribuez @ sauver concretement la vie
d'enfants boliviens.

Rejoignez-nous pour cette soiree exceptionnelle, remplie d'emotion musicale et
de solidarite.

Vous pouvez, dès maintenant, reserver vos place sur :

http://bz.clic-com.be/main.aspx?sPageToGo=Event&iEventId=9478&iCultureId=1036

ou

en téléphonnant au Palais des Beaux-Arts de Bruxelles, au
+32(0)2/507.82.00

Info et contact sur http://www.louvaindev.org

Cher(e)s membres de l'ADEL,

La Chaire Alexis Jacquemin, que vous avez genereusement aide @ financer,
organise une conference-debat le lundi 7 decembre 2009 @ Louvain-la-Neuve,
intitulee:

"The Law, Economics and Politics of Trade
Retaliation in WTO dispute Settlement"

Chad Bow (World Bank)

Au College L.-H. Dupriez,
Place Montesquieu, 3 - 1348 LLN,
Salle Paul Rousseaux

de 13h00 @ 14h00

Plus d'infos sur :

http://www.uclouvain.be/cps/ucl/doc/econ/documents/CONFERENCE_BOWN-12-2009.pdf

Nous serions tres heureux de vous y accueillir.

CORE seminar

Yves SMEERS

"A stochastic multiperiod equilibrium model in generation capacity
expansion with plant (or firm) specific discount rates"

Tuesday, December 1,  2009 at 16h30
CORE - room b-135

Abstract:

Starting from a CAPM formulationof the investment process.

We construct an equilibrium model of investments in generation capacities where
firms or plants have different cost of capital.

The problem takes the form of a stochastic Quasi-Variational Inequality problem
(or Generalized Nash Equilibrium) for which we want to find a particular
solution that reflects the diversity of costs of capital.

We also consider an alternative, APT formulation of the model.

We discuss numerical developments in progress and their economic
relevance (or irrelevance depending on the case).

(This is joint work with A. Ehrenmann.)

Please consult our web page:
http://www.uclouvain.be/en-44416.html

Call for papers :

Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics (SASE)

Governance Across Borders:
Coordination, Regulation, and Contestation in the Global Economy

Info on :

http://www.sase.org/\
index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=219&Itemid=1

SASE 22nd Annual Conference
June 24-26, 2010
Temple University, Philadelphia, USA
http://www.sase.org

In Philadelphia:
Eric Helleiner takes on 'money and global governance';
Donald MacKenzie examines 'financial models, economic agents, and
markets'; Saskia Sassen looks at 'global cities'.
And what about you?

  http://convention2.allacademic.com/one/sase/sase10/

Submit your paper or session proposal and join the conversation.

Submission deadline: January 31, 2010.
This includes applications for student stipends and travel grants.

SASE President: Jonathan Zeitlin
Program Chairs: Glenn Morgan and Marc Schneiberg
Local Organizer: Richard Deeg

ECORE seminar

Claude D'ASPREMONT,

Household behavior and individual autonomy

Monday, 30 November 2009 at 12h
ECARES - room S12.227

Abstract:

The paper proposes a model of household behavior with both private and
public consumption where the spouses independently maximize their
utilities, but taking into account, together with their own individual
budget constraints, the collective household budget constraint with
public goods evaluated at Lindahl prices. The Lagrange multipliers
associated with these constraints are used to parameterize the set of
equilibria, in addition to the usual parameterization by income
shares. The proposed game generalizes both the ‘collective’ model of
household behavior and the non-cooperative game with voluntary
contributions to public goods.
(This is joint work with R. Dos Santos Ferreira.)

The announcement is attached. A paper is available for consultation
(see websites).

Consult our websites:
http://www.uclouvain.be/en-44413.html

Dans le cadre de "fiscAL", la plate-forme interdisciplinaire de l'Academie
Louvain, aura lieu le Mardi 24 novembre 2009 de 16h30 @ 18h30 @ la Louvain
School of Management site LLN, local DOYEN 22, 2eme etage du Batiment Doyens,
Place des Doyens @ Louvain-la-Neuve une rencontre scientifique sur le theme « Is
an anti-speculation tax needed? »

La rencontre sera introduite par
Prof. Lieven Denys (VUB) et Prof. Marcel Gerard (UCL-FUCaM)

L'acces est gratuit, mail il est demande de s'inscrire aupres de
savina.princen(at)uclouvain.be

"Mondialisation, Gagnants et perdants"

Laurent Delcourt,
Bernard Duterme,
Aurelie Leroy,
et Francois Polet

(Editions CETRI-Couleur livres)


Infos sur

http://www.cetri.be/spip.php?article1189

et


http://www.revuebanquelibrairie.com/book/commerce-36/economie-40/economie-intern\
ationale-45/mondialisation-gagnants-et-perdants-9782870035252

Par ailleurs, on peut lire

http://www.notre-europe.eu/fr/nous-signalons/publication/lagriculture-de-demain-\
gagnants-et-perdants-de-la-mondialisation-par-pierre-rainelli/

Etude quantitative de Cecile Gearis disponible sur :

http://www.acrf.be/publications/etudes/etudes.php?PHPSESSID=ab0c8bc2efa2269176e1\
85ff64095b2c#precarisationfemmesrurales

Synthese :

La Wallonie compte 361 communes, 4 million d'habitants (4 Mh).
40 % de sa population, 1.36 Mh, vit dans 115 communes rurales,  communes dont la
densite est inferieure @ 150 habitants par km2.

Ce milieu rural est en revolution. Perte du secteur agricole, installation de
neo-ruraux, changement de physionomie de l'espace, entrainent des
transformations des mode de vie, de travail et de loisir.  S'y developpe
pauvrete et precarite.

La precarite, absence de securite(s) permettant d'assurer ses responsabilites et
ses droits, conduit @ la pauvrete lorsqu'elle tend @ se prolonger dans le temps
et devient persistante.
Pauvrete relative au mode de vie general, privation de biens et de services,
mesurable par les mesures conventionnelles (60% du revenu median).

Les aides sociales, les allocations de chomage ou les travaux mal payes ne
suffisent pas @ depasser le seuil de pauvreté.

Pour un isole, le seuil de pauvrete, au 1/1/2008, etait de 859 Euro (E), le
Revenu social d'integration (RSI) de 712 E et l'allocation de chomage de 830 E.
La pension minimum de 812 E et le revenu garanti aux personnes agees (le GRAPA)
etait de 823 E.
Le RSI n'est pas lie @ la regulation du marche des loyers, @ l'education et aux
communications.
Il n'a pas d'incidence sur l'augmentation des inegalites sociales.

En milieu rural, en 2001, une femme active sur 8 etait en demande d'emploi,
elles etaient 6 en 2006.

En Wallonie, la moitie des beneficiaires de l'aide sociale vivent dans 8 centres
urbains, au gre de la conjoncture, du nombre des demandes emanant d'etudiants et
des exclusions du chomage.
En 2006, jusqu'@ 3% des femmes rurales faisait appel au CPAS (Centre public
d'aide sociale) : refugiees, isolees sans ressources, chomeuses ou soutiens de
famille monoperentale.

En milieu rural, 10 % de la population sont des femmes de plus de 65 ans; plus
de femmes pensionnees que les hommes.
6 % d'entre elles ont recours au GRAPA avec des pensions inferieures au seuil de
pauvrete.

Seule la garantie d'un emploi stable et suffisamment remunere peut proteger de
la pauvrete.
Or on assiste @ une deterioration des conditions de travail. Augmentation des
emplois precaires et des plans d'embauche, des temps partiels, des couts de
travailler (gardes, transport) qui font que le revenu residuaire du travail est
inferieur aux allocations sociales (les pieges @ l'emploi).

Tout cela explique la progression de la precarisation en milieu rural, realite
qui y est peu visible.

Le monde rural traditionnel disparait, les nouveaux modes de vie s'y
generalisent. La plus grande diversite de situations de vies (surendettement,
vieillissement, eclatements familial, immigration non choisie,  chomage)
augmente le risque de pauvrete.

Dans ce contexte de crises multiples, l'augmentation des contraintes de
consommation (loyers, communications, energie, sante), la  generalisation de
l'emploi partiel precaire et la tendance @  l'isolement, l'augmentation des
inegalites, il est urgent de reflechir et de proposer des pistes d'action.

IRES Research Seminar

Thursday, November 19, from 12:50 to 14:00

IRES,
Dupriez Building,
Salle Paul Rousseaux,
3, Place Montesquieu

Alessandro Sommacal

"Intergenerational transmission of skills during
childhood and optimal fiscal policy "

Abstract :

The paper aims at characterizing the optimal tax policy and the
optimal level of quality of day care in an OLG model with heterogeneous agents
where parental choices over child care (that is, parental time devoted to
children and time spent in day care centers) affect the distribution of human
capital.

We consider two different scenarios:

First, one where the government can use linear taxation on labor income and a
linear tax/subsidy on day care.

Second, a set-up where the government can resort to nonlinear taxation of labor
income and again a linear tax/subsidy on day care.

In both cases we also discuss the rules dictating the optimal choice of day care
quality enforced by the government. Finally we perform some numerical
simulations to assess the quantitative importance of the mechanisms studied in
the theoretical analysis.

Info on : http://www.uclouvain.be/7456.html

Econometrics seminar

Carsten BURHOP,

Stock market development in a bank-based financial system: Germany,
1869-1925

Wednesday, November 25,  2009 at 14h30 (room b-135)

Abstract:

During the 19th century, a bank-based financial system emerged in
Germany and this financial systems is supposed to persist until today.
It relies on closely monitored bank-loans provided by large universal
banks and an underdeveloped equity market. As a matter of fact, in
1913, the ratio of deposits to GDP was five times higher in Germany
compared to Britain. In contrast, the ratio of stock market
capitalization to GDP was two-and-a-half times higher in Britain and
had the same size in the United States. Thus, the German banking
system was comparatively well developed, whereas the stock market
seemed to be underdeveloped compared to Britain. Nonetheless, the
German stock market in 1913 was more developed than the German stock
market in 1990 and as developed as the United States stock market in
1913  (Rajan and Zingales, 2003).
More recently, some authors argued that the impact of the large
universal banks was exaggerated. First, Edwards and Ogilvie (1996)
demonstrated that the total assets of Germany’s large universal banks
were comparatively small compared to the aggregate assets of other
financial institutions, in particular saving banks and credit
cooperatives. Second, Fohlin (2007) shows that the German stock market
was well-developed during the late 19th century and that the universal
banks playing a major role promoting and screening initial public
offerings (IPOs) and selling seasoned equity offerings (SEOs) at the
stock markets. Thus, universal banks and stock markets developed
simultaneous in Germany during the 19th century.
In this paper, we are going to present hard facts about stock market
development in late 19th and early 20th century Germany and the
influence of banks on stock market development. We provide a new,
comprehensive overview about the number of listed companies, their
market value, their distribution over different branches, and their
distribution over different stock exchanges for six benchmark years
ranging from 1869 to 1925 for the Berlin Stock Exchange and two
benchmark years (1900 and 1925) for all German stock exchanges. In
addition, the influence of banks on IPOs and SEOS is evaluated. In
particular, we track the underwriting activity of German banks for
initial public offerings (IPOs) during the period 1870 to 1913 and
seasoned equity offerings (SEO) during the period 1882 to 1913 and
provide descriptive statistics for this part of the investment banking
market. Furthermore, we evaluate the factors determining the structure
of the market for underwriting services for IPOs and SEOs as well as
factors affecting underwriter switching between IPO and SEO.
(This is joint work with S. Lehmann.)

A paper is available - Please consult our web page:
http://www.uclouvain.be/en-43677.html