The French ?Earned Income Supplement? (RSA) and back-to-work incentives

RMI, API, unemployment, means-tested benefits, back-to-work incentives.

Growth, distribution and poverty in Madagascar

This paper presents an applied microsimulation model built on household data with explicit treatment of heterogeneity of skills, labor preferences and opportunities, and consumption preferences at the individual and/or household level, while allowing for an endogenous determination of relative prices between sectors. The model is primarily focused on labor markets and labor allocation at the household level, but consumption behavior is also modeled. Modeling choices are driven by a desire to make the best possible use of microeconomic information derived from household data. This framework supports analysis of the impact of different growth strategies on poverty and income distribution, without making use of the “representative agent” assumption. The model is built on household survey data and represents the behavior of 4,508 households. Household behavioral equations are estimated econometrically. Different sets of simulation are carried out to examine the comparative statics of the model and study the impact of different growth strategies on poverty and inequality. Simulation results show the potential usefulness of this class of models to derive both poverty and inequality measures and transition matrices without prior assumptions regarding the intra-group income distribution. Market clearing equations allow for the endogenous determination of relative prices between sectors. The impact of different growth strategies on poverty and inequality is complex given general equilibrium effects and the wide range of household positions in markets for factors and goods markets. Partial equilibrium analysis or the use of representative households would miss these effects.Microeconomics Madagascar. ,Madagascar. ,Labor market. ,Poverty. ,TMD ,

The "distance-varying" gravity model in international economics: is the distance an obstacle to trade?

In this paper, we address the problem of the role of the distance between trading partners by assuming the variability of coefficients in a standard gravity model. The distance can be interpreted as an indicator of the cost of entry in a market (a fixed cost): the greater the distance, the higher the entry cost, and the more we need to have a large market to be able to cover a high cost of entry. To explore this idea, the paper uses a method called Flexible Least Squares. By allowing the parameters of the gravity model to vary over the observations, our main result is that the more the partner's GDP is large, the less the distance is an obstacle to trade.Gravity Equation; Flexible Least Squares; Geographical Distance

The "distance-varying" gravity model in international economics: is the distance an obstacle to trade?

In this paper, we address the problem of the role of the distance between trading partners by assuming the variability of coefficients in a standard gravity model. The distance can be interpreted as an indicator of the cost of entry in a market (a fixed cost): the greater the distance, the higher the entry cost, and the more we need to have a large market to be able to cover a high cost of entry. To explore this idea, the paper uses a method called Flexible Least Squares. By allowing the parameters of the gravity model to vary over the observations, our main result is that the more the partner's GDP is large, the less the distance is an obstacle to trade.Gravity Equation, Flexible Least Squares, Geographical Distance

The "distance-varying" gravity model in international economics: is the distance an obstacle to trade?

In this paper, we address the problem of the role of the distance between trading partners by assuming the variability of coefficients in a standard gravity model. The distance can be interpreted as an indicator of the cost of entry in a market (a fixed cost): the greater the distance, the higher the entry cost, and the more we need to have a large market to be able to cover a high cost of entry. To explore this idea, the paper uses a method called Flexible Least Squares. By allowing the parameters of the gravity model to vary over the observations, our main result is that the more the partner's GDP is large, the less the distance is an obstacle to trade.Gravity Equation; Flexible Least Squares; Geographical Distance

Évaluation du vieillissement de la population par l’indice de Coulson et l’âge médian

Il existe plusieurs outils permettant d'évaluer le vieillissement de la population. Cette étude compare l'efficacité de l'indice de Coulson et de l'âge médian pour mesurer l'intensité de ce processus. Ces deux indices, dont les résultats sont relativement semblables pour la mesure de la structure d'âge, aboutissent à des résultats très différents et parfois opposées lorsque appliqués à l'étude du vieillissement. L'indice de Coulson est beaucoup plus précis et, en ce sens, il correspond fidèlement à un modèle régional de vieillissement où l'influence de la croissance et du degré d'urbanisation des municipalités est déterminant.There are many measures to evaluate aging of population. This study compares the efficiency of the Coulson's index and the median age in measuring the intensity of the aging process. These indices which are relatively similar when measuring the age structure, prove to be very different, even opposed in some cases, when measuring aging. The Coulson's index is much more precise and corresponds accurately to a regional model of aging which is dominated by the influence of growth and urbanization level of municipalities

'Dans' suivi d'un nom de partie de la journée : au croisement de l'espace et du temps

Spatial versus temporal uses of preposition 'dans' (in) largely depend on the properties of the noun that follows. We study here prepositional phrases where dans is followed by a definite noun phrase with one of the following nouns: 'nuit' (night), 'jour' (day) 'journée', 'matin' (morning), 'matinée', 'soir' (evening), 'soirée' or 'après-midi' (afternoon) (nouns that denote the usual divisions of the 24h day). We observe that in this kind of sequence, the presence of what is usually called a "temporal noun" is not sufficient to ensure a temporal interpretation. We contrast temporal and spatial - or more precisely spatio-situational - interpretations, and show that our temporal noun phrases can be distinguished into three distinct groups, according to whether they favor the first or the second interpretation, or leave both equally available. The latter case is particularly well illustrated by 'nuit', on which the study is focused. The article is based on a corpus of texts from the Frantext database, and explores the different parameters likely to direct the interpretation of the prepositional phrases at stake: complements to the noun phrase, type of verbal predicate, presence of other temporal or spatial phrases, etc.On sait que les emplois spatial versus temporel de la préposition 'dans' dépendent pour une large part des propriétés du nom dont elle est suivie. Dans cette étude, nous nous intéressons à des syntagmes prépositionnels où 'dans' est suivi d'un syntagme nominal défini ayant pour tête l'un des huit noms 'nuit, jour, journée, matin, matinée, soir, soirée ou après-midi' (noms dénotant les divisions habituelles de la journée de 24h). Nous observons que dans ce type de construction, la présence d'un nom communément désigné comme " nom de temps " (Ntps) ne suffit pas à orienter l'interprétation dans un sens temporel. Opposant à l'interprétation temporelle une interprétation spatiale, ou plus précisément spatio-situationnelle, nous montrons que nos SNtps se répartissent en trois groupes distincts, suivant qu'ils favorisent plutôt la première, plutôt la seconde, ou qu'ils les laissent également disponibles. Ce dernier cas de figure est particulièrement bien illustré par le nom 'nuit', sur lequel nous focalisons notre étude. En nous appuyant sur un corpus de textes de la base Frantext, nous mettons en évidence les différents paramètres susceptibles de guider le lecteur dans l'interprétation des SP étudiés : expansions du SN, type de prédicat verbal, présence d'autres modifieurs temporels ou spatiaux, etc