Research

Working papers

"In or Out? Crowding Effects in Public Goods with Private Gifts: Evidence from Crowdfunding", with Marco Gazel

In fundraising for public goods with private gifts, two mechanisms are known to operate in opposite directions. Cumulative contributions increase the perceived quality of the public good (crowding in) but decrease the marginal utility of contributions (crowding out). In this paper, we exploit detailed data from two reward-based crowdfunding (RBCF) platforms to evaluate the conditions under which one effect dominates the other. Our results show that crowding in is larger when public goods are more excludable, comparing the effect among different categories of projects and across local versus global projects. Coupling real-world data with experimental measures, we show that for more altruistic individuals who are strangers to the project owner, crowding out dominates crowding in.

"Distrust in State and Low Support for Redistribution: Is Transparency the Solution?" with Joana Silva, Matteo Morgandi, and Victoria Levin

Does allowing transparency in program delivery improve citizens' support for redistributive government programs? Citizens' support for redistributive policies can be influenced by their perceptions of the state actor's intention and capacity to implement pro-poor programs. We conducted a lab-in-the-field experiment on a representative sample of Jordan middle-class households to provide causal evidence that allowing transparency in benefit delivery makes citizens (particularly among low-trust individuals and the youth) more willing to forgo their own welfare to benefit the poor. Moreover, such a transparency device increases the relative support for cash-based safety nets, which have a greater impact on poverty but may be perceived as more prone to elite capture, compared with in-kind transfers. Taken together, these results confirm the capacity of a transparency-enhancing device to signal the political agent's intention to conduct redistributive policies.

"How do Music Market Changes Affect Consumer Demand and Welfare? An Experimental Approach", with Louis Levy-Garboua, Laëtitia Placido, and Claire Owen

We use choice data generated out of experimental music markets to estimate an AIDS complete demand system for musical genres (Pop-Rock, Classical, Rap-RnB, Blues-Jazz). Own and cross-price elasticities are estimated for two market structures, monopolistic and Bertrand competition, and several groups with similar listening habits. The estimated parameters of the demand functions for every group and market structure are then used to compute the change of consumer surplus associated with a potential change of market structure. We find that groups adopt different strategies in front of change of market structure and the associated competitive pressure on prices. The groups who love classical genres of music are harmed more than others by a large price increase but they manage to alleviate the welfare cost by a systematic exploitation of increased price volatility.    

“Employment versus Efficiency: Which Firms should R&D Tax Credits Target?” with Rahim Lila and Joana Silva

Awarded for the "Impact of Science on Economy and Society in Portugal" call GEE/FCT

R&D tax credits, by stimulating private sector innovation, can play a key role in promoting employment and firm performance.  This paper examines the program impact on the trajectory of firms in terms of technology adoption, firm performance and workforce composition, and the extent to which it depends on the size of the targeted firms. It uses rich longitudinal micro-data on innovation, firms and their workers. Combining matching with a staggered adoption differences-in-differences, we show that tax credits increase investment in R&D-related activities while funds are being received, but not thereafter. Productivity and efficiency (but not employment) increase in large firms. These effects are driven by structural changes, both in terms of the increased share of skilled individuals within the firm (keeping the overall employment level constant) and enhanced technological adoption. In contrast, small firms mostly respond by increasing employment and production scale. Our results suggest that an important trade-off: R&D tax credit programs that target large firms are likely to lead to efficiency and productivity gains, but limited effects on employment of supported firms. In contrast, R&D tax credit programs that mostly benefit small firms may lead to employment gains in supported firms, but limited effects on structural changes in productivity and efficiency.

Research projects

(1) 'The Role of Accountability and Efficiency: Information with Impact' (2021-2023) Member

(2) ''Avaliaçãoo dos Efeitos dos Programas de Incentivo `as Empresas no Desempenho' Principal Investigator

(3)  ’OCUS Rewarding Image Creators’ (2019) Member

(4) ’Quality and social interactions in crowdfunding’ project financed by the French Ministère de la Culture and the labex ICCA for the "Crowdfunding for arts, culture and medias" (2015-2017) Co-Principal investigator

(5) ’Prosocial motivations to crowdfund cultural projects’ (2014) Principal investigator

(6) MACCAN Project (Marché de l’Art, Conformisme Créativité, et Adoption de la Nouveauté) (2012-2014) Member

PhD dissertation

"Music markets and the adoption of novelty: experimental approaches", under the supervision of Pr. Louis Lévy-Garboua.

Referees: Charles Noussair (Professor at University of Arizona) and Paul Belleflamme (Professor at Aix-Marseille)

External examiners: Françoise Benhamou (Professor at University Paris 13), Matteo Galizzi (Assistant Professor at London School of Economics)

President: François Gardes (Professor at University Paris I)