The 2027 program approaches Sustainable Development from a broad economic perspective, exploring frontier research on how environmental change, inequality, intergenerational equity, international integration, and new technologies interact with economic behavior and public policy.
Six advanced courses combine theoretical and empirical approaches, covering topics from population and environmental dynamics, inequality and social mobility, and intergenerational equity to trade and pollution and the welfare implications of algorithmic decision-making.
The courses introduce participants to questions and methods at the frontier of each field, including some only beginning to enter standard graduate curricula, and provide the tools to engage critically with ongoing research.
Course Details
Algorithmic Fairness and Welfare Theory
Professor:
Xiangyu Qu
CNRS · Université Paris 1 · Centre for Economics at Paris-Saclay
In this course, we will formally define fairness, like equal opportunity, equalized odds, etc. We then use inequality indices to quantify unfairness in algorithmic decisions.
Environment-Fertility Nexus
Professor:
Natacha Raffin
ENS Paris-Saclay · Centre for Economics at Paris-Saclay
The economic literature has extensively explored inter-linkages between population dynamics and changes in our environment over the past three decades. The aim of this class is to focus on the role of endogenous fertility behaviors as a key channel linking population growth, economic development and environmental dynamics. First, we review how economists have incorporated endogenous fertility decisions into growth models with environmental dynamics to assess the effects of population growth on the environment. Second, we present two different strands of the literature that investigate how environmental changes may directly affect population dynamics, specifically through i) its impact on households’ reproductive health and ii) fertility choices of households, acting as an additional determinant beyond the usual ones.
Great Gatsby Curve: facts and Implications
Professor:
Ugo Boletta
Unviersité Paris-Saclay · RITM · Centre for Economics at Paris-Saclay
The Great Gatsby curve describes the relationship between income inequality and social immobility. Evidence shows a strong positive correlation between the two, implying that reducing inequality may promote upward mobility. This class will provide an overview of the evidence, examine its limitations, and discuss the theoretical and empirical implications for economic research.
How Inequality Destabilises the (Macro)economy
Professor:
Jérôme Héricourt
Université d’Evry Paris-Saclay · Centre for Economics at Paris-Saclay
Since the 1980s, income and wealth inequality have risen markedly across advanced economies, as documented by various works by Tony Atkinson and Thomas Piketty, as well as the OECD, while credit-fuelled asset bubbles, financial crises and global imbalances have grown in frequency and scale. After 2008, Rajan and Galbraith were among the first to link the two, arguing that rising inequality pushed low- and middle-income households into debt to sustain their consumption.
This course examines the links between inequality dynamics and growing macroeconomic destabilisation, focusing on income inequality. Rather than addressing the desirability of inequality or questions of justice, the course characterises the implications of the phenomenon in terms of financial, macroeconomic and political stability. Drawing on empirical research covering the late 20th century up to the eve of COVID-19, it first shows that income inequality has deeply negative macroeconomic consequences through the financial instability it generates, with bubbles and imbalances, both internal and external, closely tied to the erosion of the middle class. It then shows how these imbalances fuel political polarisation, so that inequality, by corroding macroeconomic stability, creates the conditions for democratic destabilisation. The course concludes with perspectives on the potential impact of AI on inequality.
Sustainable Development and Intergenerational Equity
Professor:
Vincent Martinet
Paris-Saclay Applied Economics – INRAE · Centre for Economics at Paris-Saclay
tba
Trade, FDI and Pollution
Professor:
Natalia Zugravu
University of Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines · SOURCE · Centre for Economics at Paris-Saclay
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Course Schedule
The detailed timetable will be available by February.