RESEARCH
Innovation in diversified cities (2021)| Pdf ( Job Market Paper)
I combine comprehensive patent, establishment and census data in Canada to analyze whether diversity affects local innovation activity from 2006 to 2016. I distinguish between diversity in the population and in manufacturing. The results suggest that cities with a more diverse ethnic composition of the population and more diverse sectoral composition in manufacturing experience a higher level of innovation activity. Ethnic diversity has more than 4-11% larger effects on innovation activity than manufacturing diversity. I also show that diversity has heterogeneous effects depending on the field of innovation. Ethnic diversity has positive effects on chemical, computer and electronic innovations, while manufacturing diversity has positive effects on all innovation classes.
Cultural and public services as factors of city resilience? Evidence from big plant closures and downsizing– (2021), with Kristian Behrens and Florian Mayneris | Pdf
We combine census and establishment-level data for 2001–2017 to study the impact of mass layoffs of big manufacturing plants on city-level population and its composition in Canada. We find that manufacturing plant closures and downsizing lead to a decline in subsequent population growth, especially among the young, those of working age, migrants, and the less skilled. There are also sizable negative effects on the local employment in other industries, which can explain why such negative local labor demand shocks affect population dynamics. Public services (health and education) and cultural and recreational amenities are shown to make cities more resilient and help them retain population following negative local labor demand shocks.
Diversity, local labor market and resilience (2022)| Pdf
I combine establishment-level and Canadian census data for the period 2006–2016 to study the impact of manufacturing diversity on city-level employment. I find that manufacturing diversity leads to higher employment growth, especially male employment, and less skilled people. I also find significant positive spillover effects of manufacturing diversity on local employment in other industries such as construction, arts and recreation, and professional services. Moreover, cities that innovate more have a greater effect of manufacturing diversity on their local employment growth. Finally, manufacturing diversity makes cities more resilient and helps them retain employment after negative shocks to local labor demand.
REPORT AND PREVIOUS WORK
The emigration of highly educated Canadian graduates to the United States: An empirical analysis of the brain drain phenomenon (2015) – with Daniel Parent | Pdf
We examine the pattern of migration of highly educated Canadian graduates to the United States. Using Canadian and U.S. public census data between 1980 and 2000, we show that there is indeed a wage difference between Canadian emigrants to the United States and international immigrants to Canada on the same comparative basis. We show that this difference is not due to a difference in qualifications, but to structural effects such as discriminatory practices or the appreciation of unobservable characteristics. We show, among other things, that the Canadian labor market pays only based on skill differences (composition effect) while the American labor market is discriminatory (structure effect) and favors Canadian emigrants. We show that the phenomenon of migration of Canadians to the United States, although effective, is not new and does not tend to intensify over time. Finally, we find that migration in both countries is particularly oriented towards graduates who hold at least a university bachelor's degree and are aged between 20-30 years.
Promoting Competitiveness and Internationalization of Enterprises (2015), West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU), Department of Business Development – with Marina Compaoré | Pdf
For several decades, countries in the WAEMU zone have chosen the path of industrialization to ensure their economic and social development. Industrial policies such as the Common Industrial Policy (CIP) have been implemented with a view to optimizing the industrial sector and making industrialization the path to economic development. To this end, the objective of this report is (i) to describe industry in the WAEMU zone, (ii) to describe and study the programs put in place to develop the competitiveness of enterprises, (iii) to describe and study the programs put in place to develop the internationalization of enterprises.
Report on the Business Environment in the WAEMU (2015), West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU), Department of Business Development | Pdf
The private sector plays a crucial role in economic and social development. Governments implement measures and actions to strengthen investment and establish profitability of private operations to ensure their development. For this purpose, the objective of this report is to (i) identify the constraints to the business climate in the WAEMU region, (ii) describe the current framework for private sector development, (iii) develop a critical analysis of the actions implemented to improve the business climate by the WAEMU, (iv) develop a critical analysis of WAEMU's future action plan for improving the business climate, (v) present examples of business climate improvement frameworks, (vi) provide recommendations for improving the business climate and proposed logical framework.