Welcome to my webpage. I am a Tenured Associate Professor of Economics at the Department of Economics of Clermont Auvergne University, CERDI. Previously, I was a Visiting Scholar at the Department of Economics of Harvard University (sponsored by Pr. Nathan Nunn) and at the Toulouse School of Economics (TSE). I was part of the founding team of the French Association of Development Economists (AFEDEV) and served as an elected member of its Steering Committee.
You can find my CV here.
I am an economist working at the intersection of Development Economics, Political Economy and Environmental Economics, with a focus on Cultural Economics, Gender, and Environmental Governance.
My research investigates a central question: how do information, informal norms, and formal institutions interact to shape human behavior, political representation, collective action and sustainable governance? Methodologically, I combine granular micro-data—such as geolocated surveys, fine-grained spatial data, and textual data—with quasi-experimental designs (e.g., spatial RDD, event studies, and staggered difference-in-differences) to draw causal inference and inform policy design.
My work is organized around three complementary research axes:
Information, Media, and Civic Engagement: How do digital connectivity, public regulations, and social networks reshape political representation and collective action? I examine the political and social consequences of access to information, particularly how digital shocks foster egalitarian gender norms, female political empowerment, and civic mobilization.
Environmental Governance, Climate Regulation, and Externalities: How do formal policies, private politics, and environmental stress shape corporate and individual behavior? I examine how public climate regulations mobilize civil society activism against polluting firms, and analyze how NGO pressure directly alters firm-level emissions and intra-sectoral dynamics. Additionally, I investigate how extreme climate and agricultural shocks (e.g., droughts, locust plagues) reshape social cohesion, institutional trust, and long-run conflict risk.
Cultural Persistence, Gender, and Informal Institutions: How do ancestral norms and kinship structures influence contemporary behavior and policy effectiveness? I explore how deeply embedded cultural traditions—such as matrilineal vs. patrilineal kinship organization—persist across generations and interact with modern laws, environmental variation, and health shocks. My research details how ancestral norms shape women's empowerment, health outcomes, and intra-household bargaining, while contributing to methodological debates on comparative development.