Public Outreach

Combining markets and ethics isn’t easy, and the numerous frauds and scams that intervene at regular intervals don’t help. Should we be looking for more competition to reach efficiency or, on the contrary, seeking market regulation? To respond to this dilemma, economist Marie Claire Villeval uses experimental tools.

The Qatari Sovereign Wealth Fund owns the PSG football team, more than 6 hotels and shares in Lagardère or Total, to name but a few of their assets. That’s enough to attract some concern. However, it’s simply following a world trend since the beginning of the 21st century. More than 45% of existing wealth funds were created between 2000 and 2009. Economists C. Lecourt, J. Amar, and V. Kinon explain what’s behind this “craze”.

In April 2019, at the insistence of the civil society, the European Parliament enacted a new agreement for better protection of whistle-blowers. This is potentially good news not only for human rights but also in the fight against corruption. This proposal is bound to take the EU a step closer in its fight against corruption and push the member states to move in a similar direction.

Microcredits help microenterprises get started. They are an innovative way to address financial exclusion and unemployment. But business performance is closely linked to entrepreneurial motivation. Renaud Bourlès and Anastasia Cozarenco show that businesses started by « necessity » are less likely to make profits than those that are the result of « opportunity ». So differentiating between entrepreneurial motivations is a challenge for public policies.

Whistle-blowing has been the subject of far-reaching discussions regarding its justification and its legal support. Although there is a range of laws protecting those who blow the whistle, especially in the G20 countries, whistle-blowers are still at risk. Enhancing their protection seems to be a challenge. Examining the issue, political philosophers Manohar Kumar and Daniele Santoro call for better protection backed up by a set of assessments. They reopen the debate through a three-part series of articles.

From the Angkor Empire to Democratic Kampuchea, Cambodia has been in turn a land of plenty and of poverty, a prosperous and then battered country. Connecting these two stories, historian Ben Kiernan draws a line: Cambodia has always been a master in the art of rice-growing. Since the glacial era, climatic conditions have shaped a fertile land, home to both the Khmer civilisation and modern Democratic Kampuchea.

Econdialog interviewed Ben Kiernan, professor of History at Yale University, about Cambodian history. He explains how its natural resources are a key to understanding the glory of the Angkor Empire. Cambodia was a land of plenty.

Going beyond the battle against income inequalities, some look to equal opportunities as a way of offering everyone the same chances and enabling deprived people to escape the poverty trap. Social mobility gives everyone the chance to move upwards. Economists Cowell and Flachaire present a mobility index to add to the existing inequality measures.

When is a mother « the mother of all evils »? According to the book « the origin of happiness », written by A. Clark, S. Flèche, R. Layard, N. Powdthavee et G. Ward, a child’s happiness relies on the mother’s mental health. Misery crosses generations and the consequences last into adulthood. To address this issue, the authors call for more attention to mental well-being and recommend preventing depression from an early age.

While depression continues to grow in developed countries, a new paradigm is emerging: not wealth-creation, but the creation of well-being. Isn’t that every government’s main goal? Meeting this objective means investigating what determines fulfilment. In “The Origins of Happiness” Andrew Clark, Sarah Fleche, Richard Layard, Nattavudh Powdthavee and George Ward conclude that mental health makes us happier than money.