Monday, November 5th 2018 –  13:00 – 14:00

Maison des Sciences Économiques, Room 114

 Maison des Sciences Économiques, 106-112 bd de l’Hôpital, 75013 Paris, Métro 5 Campo Formio, bus 57, 67, 27, 83 or 47

Claire GIORDANO

(Banca d’Italia)

with Michael Fidora and Martin Schmitz (European Central Bank)

Doomed to disequilibrium? An assessment of real exchange rate misalignments in the euro area

Abstract: Building upon a behavioural equilibrium exchange rate (BEER) model, estimated at a quarterly frequency since 1999 on a broad sample of 57 countries, the paper assesses whether both the size and persistence of real effective exchange rate misalignments from the levels implied by economic fundamentals have been affected by the adoption of a single currency. A comparison of real misalignments across different country groupings shows they are smaller in the euro area than in its main trading partners. However, in the euro area real disequilibria are also more persistent, although after the global financial crisis the reactivity of real exchange rates to past misalignments increased, and therefore the persistence decreased. In the absence of the nominal adjustment channel, an improvement in the quality of regulation and institutions is found to reduce the persistence of real exchange rate misalignments.

Monday, October 8th 2018 –  13:00 – 14:00

Maison des Sciences Économiques, Room 114

 Maison des Sciences Économiques, 106-112 bd de l’Hôpital, 75013 Paris, Métro 5 Campo Formio, bus 57, 67, 27, 83 ou 47

José de Sousa

(Paris Sud)

with Muriel Niederle (Stanford)

 

Trickle-Down Affirmative Action: A Case Study in Chess

Abstract: Vertical gender segregation is one of the most stubborn features of labor markets: high-ranking positions are primarily held by men in Business, Politics and Science. Can we design an institution, an affirmative action, to erase this segregation? We try to answer this question by investigating the effects of a clear affirmative action for women, where we have a good measure of “ability” even of people who did not directly benefit from the action. Chess, which is grappling with a huge vertical segregation problem, offers a special and unique opportunity to investigate the effect of an affirmative action, because we have a clear idea how good someone is. France introduced an affirmative action (AA) for women in its club competitions in the beginning of the nineties, which helps us to answer key questions. How much does the AA benefit the selected pool? Does the AA trickle-down? In other words, does it lead to higher investment (benefits) of a whole group and not just those selected?