Financial Threat during the Economic Crisis: Connections with the Social Representation of the Economic Crisis and the Willingness to Act

The 2008 economic crisis led numerous countries into economic hardship. Therefore, today, people feel financially threatened by this economic downturn. This threat can influence people’s willingness to act in order to cope with the economic situation. In this paper, the social representation theory helps to understand social knowledge associated with the economic crisis. The study is organized around two main objectives: (1) to compare the social representation of the economic crisis according to people’s level of financial threat, and (2) to study the mediating role of financial threat between people’s economic situations and their willingness to undertake economic actions (i.e., saving, consumption) and citizen’s activities (i.e., protests). French adults (N = 278) answered a free-association task based on the ‘economic crisis’ as the inductor, completed by financial threat, willingness to act, and a series of economic measures. First, results support the hypothesis of the existence of different social representations of the economic crisis according to the level of financial threat. Second, financial threat is also found to fully mediate the relationship between economic situation’s measures and the willingness to protest

Economics and common sense : studies of the social representations of the economic crisis and the euro

Dans cette thèse, nous nous concentrons sur la relation entre l'économie et sa représentation sociale, entre la science et son sens commun. Dans un premier chapitre, théorique, nous démontrons que les représentations sociales des individus profanes jouent un rôle dans la modélisation économique et dans la mise en oeuvre des politiques économiques. Dans un second chapitre, empirique, nous décrivons d'abord la représentation sociale de la crise économique de 2008 en France et montrons que les différences de représentation peuvent être dues à la perception des menaces financières personnelles. Ces dernières conduisent à différents types d'actions pour faire face (ou non) à la crise économique. Dans un troisième chapitre, empirique, nous étudions la possibilité d'un ajustement cognitif entre les représentations profanes des théories économiques qui expliquent les crises économiques et ces théories économiques. Nous étudions également l'influence des différences sociodémographiques et psychologiques (telles que les opinions politiques et la croyance en un monde juste) sur ces théories économiques. Enfin, dans un dernier chapitre empirique, nous examinons les représentations sociales de l'euro et abordons la notion d'illusion monétaire ainsi que la perception des politiques monétaires européennes en France.In this thesis we focus on the relationship between economics and social representations, between science and common sense. First in a theoretical chapter, we discuss how social representations of lay individuals can potentially play a role in economic modeling and in the implementation of economic policies. Secondly, in an empirical chapter, we firstly describe the social representation of the 2008 economic crisis in France and link it to the perception of personal financial threats. We then proceed to demonstrate that this difference can lead to different types of actions in order to cope (or not) with the economic crisis. The third chapter investigates empirically the possibility of a cognitive fit between lay representations of economic theories that explain economic crises and economic theories themselves. The influence of sociodemographic and psychological differences (such as political opinions, and Belief in a Just World) over these economic theories is also studied. The final chapter examines the social representations of the euro and approaches the notion of monetary illusion as well as the perception of European monetary policies among the French population

Analyse lexicométrique des Livres blancs de la défense (1972-2017)

Actes des JADT 2020 : 15es Journées internationales d’Analyse statistique des Données TextuellesInternational audienceThis contribution is an original analysis to understand the construction of a defence policy discourse. This articleproposes a lexicometric analysis of the French defence policy based on the four White Papers published over theperiod 1972-2013 to which we add the strategic Review of 2017. A White Paper is a document that openlyexposes the strategic guidelines of the government. From the point of view of the method, this article is acomparative analysis of official and political discourses. We look at "the discursive universe” (Paveau, 1996) ofthe defence. The methodological approach adopted here differs from the existing work in this field, which reliesessentially on comparative monographs. In a nutshell, we used the ALCESTE method (Lexeme Analysis of Cooccurrents on a Set of Segmentations of the Text Study) created by Reinert (1983, 1990) which has been carriedout on the IRaMuTeQ software (Ratinaud, 2009). The advantage of this method is to offer an endogenoustypology of the White Papers and allows to a clear taxonomy of the different White Papers. Consequently, thenumber of final Classes are indeterminate a priori which lead to an endogenous typology of White Papers. Thisarticle thus provides a better understanding of how the defence discourse contributes to the construction of adefence policy in the long run.Cette contribution est une analyse originale pour comprendre la construction d'un discours de politique dedéfense. Cet article propose une analyse lexicométrique de la politique de défense française à partir des quatreLivres blancs publiés sur la période 1972-2013 auxquels s'ajoute la Revue stratégique de 2017. Un Livre blancest un document qui expose ouvertement les orientations stratégiques du gouvernement. Du point de vue de laméthode, cet article est une analyse comparative des discours officiels et politiques. Nous regardons « l'universdiscursif » (Paveau, 1996) de la défense. L'approche méthodologique adoptée ici diffère des travaux existantsdans ce domaine, qui s'appuient essentiellement sur des monographies comparatives. En résumé, nous avonsutilisé la méthode ALCESTE (Lexeme Analysis of Co-occurrents on a Set of Segmentations of the Text Study)créée par Reinert (1983, 1990) qui a été réalisée sur le logiciel IRaMuTeQ (Ratinaud, 2009). L'avantage de cetteméthode est d'offrir une typologie endogène des Livres blancs ce qui permet une taxonomie claire des différentsLivres blancs. Par conséquent, le nombre de classes finales est a priori indéterminé ce qui conduit à unetypologie endogène des Livres blancs. Cet article permet ainsi de mieux comprendre comment le discours dedéfense contribue à la construction d'une politique de défense à long terme

Analyse lexicométrique des Livres blancs de la défense (1972-2017)

Actes des JADT 2020 : 15es Journées internationales d’Analyse statistique des Données TextuellesInternational audienceThis contribution is an original analysis to understand the construction of a defence policy discourse. This articleproposes a lexicometric analysis of the French defence policy based on the four White Papers published over theperiod 1972-2013 to which we add the strategic Review of 2017. A White Paper is a document that openlyexposes the strategic guidelines of the government. From the point of view of the method, this article is acomparative analysis of official and political discourses. We look at "the discursive universe” (Paveau, 1996) ofthe defence. The methodological approach adopted here differs from the existing work in this field, which reliesessentially on comparative monographs. In a nutshell, we used the ALCESTE method (Lexeme Analysis of Cooccurrents on a Set of Segmentations of the Text Study) created by Reinert (1983, 1990) which has been carriedout on the IRaMuTeQ software (Ratinaud, 2009). The advantage of this method is to offer an endogenoustypology of the White Papers and allows to a clear taxonomy of the different White Papers. Consequently, thenumber of final Classes are indeterminate a priori which lead to an endogenous typology of White Papers. Thisarticle thus provides a better understanding of how the defence discourse contributes to the construction of adefence policy in the long run.Cette contribution est une analyse originale pour comprendre la construction d'un discours de politique dedéfense. Cet article propose une analyse lexicométrique de la politique de défense française à partir des quatreLivres blancs publiés sur la période 1972-2013 auxquels s'ajoute la Revue stratégique de 2017. Un Livre blancest un document qui expose ouvertement les orientations stratégiques du gouvernement. Du point de vue de laméthode, cet article est une analyse comparative des discours officiels et politiques. Nous regardons « l'universdiscursif » (Paveau, 1996) de la défense. L'approche méthodologique adoptée ici diffère des travaux existantsdans ce domaine, qui s'appuient essentiellement sur des monographies comparatives. En résumé, nous avonsutilisé la méthode ALCESTE (Lexeme Analysis of Co-occurrents on a Set of Segmentations of the Text Study)créée par Reinert (1983, 1990) qui a été réalisée sur le logiciel IRaMuTeQ (Ratinaud, 2009). L'avantage de cetteméthode est d'offrir une typologie endogène des Livres blancs ce qui permet une taxonomie claire des différentsLivres blancs. Par conséquent, le nombre de classes finales est a priori indéterminé ce qui conduit à unetypologie endogène des Livres blancs. Cet article permet ainsi de mieux comprendre comment le discours dedéfense contribue à la construction d'une politique de défense à long terme

Financial Literacy and Numeracy

URL des documents de travail : https://centredeconomiesorbonne.cnrs.fr/publications/Voir aussi le chapitre d'ouvrage basé sur ce document de travail paru dans "The Routledge Hanbook of Financial Literacy", 2021Document de travail du Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne 2021.31 - ISSN : 1955-611XThe aim of this chapter is to investigate the relationship between financial literacy and numeracy. It turns out that numeracy and financial literacy are strongly correlated. In order to clarify this relationship, we review, in a first section, the general definition of numeracy and its most commonly used measures. We then try to enlighten the distinction that can be made between numeracy and financial literacy. In a second section, we focus on the relationship between numeracy and financial literacy using the main empirical studies performed. Since the analyses of their results show that numeracy is a key determinant of financial literacy, we highlight, in a third and final section, the key role that numeracy could have in education programs and consumer protection policies to improve financial decisions

Financial Literacy and Numeracy

URL des documents de travail : https://centredeconomiesorbonne.cnrs.fr/publications/Voir aussi le chapitre d'ouvrage basé sur ce document de travail paru dans "The Routledge Hanbook of Financial Literacy", 2021Document de travail du Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne 2021.31 - ISSN : 1955-611XThe aim of this chapter is to investigate the relationship between financial literacy and numeracy. It turns out that numeracy and financial literacy are strongly correlated. In order to clarify this relationship, we review, in a first section, the general definition of numeracy and its most commonly used measures. We then try to enlighten the distinction that can be made between numeracy and financial literacy. In a second section, we focus on the relationship between numeracy and financial literacy using the main empirical studies performed. Since the analyses of their results show that numeracy is a key determinant of financial literacy, we highlight, in a third and final section, the key role that numeracy could have in education programs and consumer protection policies to improve financial decisions

SMEs, R &D financing, and credit shocks

We study how young and small firms’ R &D investment responds to the tightening of credit conditions. Using detailed R &D information on over 25,000 French companies, we show that financially constrained firms were relatively more likely to scale back their R &D activities during the European sovereign debt crisis (2010–2012), in particular those related to fundamental research. We then exploit variation in the sovereign risk exposure of firms’ main bank during the sovereign debt crisis as an exogenous credit supply shock. Results indicate that firms related to banks with larger exposures to risky sovereign debt decreased R &D expenditure by more relative to other firms following the crisis. Our findings indicate that credit supply shocks have significant impact on firms’ R &D activities, especially for SMEs and young firms, and highlight an important transmission channel of sovereign risk to firm innovation and productivity

Does Bank Capital Matter for Corporate Borrowers? Evidence from France

International audienceUsing a large matched bank-firm database containing information on 83,900 French firms and 159 European banks for the period 2014–2016, we show that bank capital affects the type of lending relationships and firms’ access to credit even during a phase of economic expansion. Informationally opaque borrowers are more likely to borrow from banks with relatively high levels of capital—on average, SMEs tend to borrow from banks that have 1.3 percentage points higher equity capital ratio with respect to banks that lend to larger firms. In turn, this endogenous matching has positive effects on credit conditions: a one-standard-deviation increase in bank capital ratio is associated to half a percentage point decrease in borrowing costs for the average firm. Firms related to high capital banks also obtain larger shares of short-term loans and long-term debt, and are less dependent on trade credit from suppliers. These results suggest that high capital banks and informationally opaque borrowers are naturally predisposed to match, and that these banks are able to pass down their lower funding costs to their customers in the form of greater availability of credit at a lower price

Money illusion, financial literacy and numeracy: experimental evidence

International audienc