Sciences Po

About: Sciences Po is a facility organization based out in Paris, France. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Politics & European union. The organization has 955 authors who have published 2174 publications receiving 40280 citations. The organization is also known as: Institut d'études politiques de Paris & Paris Institute of Political Studies.

Gravity Equations: Workhorse,Toolkit, and Cookbook

Abstract: This chapter focuses on the estimation and interpretation of gravity equations for bilateral trade. This necessarily involves a careful consideration of the theoretical underpinnings since it has become clear that naive approaches to estimation lead to biased and frequently misinterpreted results. There are now several theory-consistent estimation methods and we argue against sole reliance on any one method and instead advocate a toolkit approach. One estimator may be preferred for certain types of data or research questions but more often the methods should be used in concert to establish robustness. In recent years, estimation has become just a first step before a deeper analysis of the implications of the results, notably in terms of welfare. We try to facilitate diffusion of best-practice methods by illustrating their application in a step-by-step cookbook mode of exposition.

Introduction: Understanding Public Policy through Its Instruments—From the Nature of Instruments to the Sociology of Public Policy Instrumentation

Abstract: Public policy instrumentation and its choice of tools and modes of operation are treated either as a kind of evidence (governing means making regulations, taxing, entering into contracts, communicating, etc.) or as if the questions it raises (the properties of instruments, justifications for choosing them, their applicability, etc.) are part of a rationality of methods without any autonomous meaning. This paper aims to explain the significance of a political sociology approach to public policy instruments in accounting for processes of public policy change: (1) public policy instrumentation is a major issue in public policy, since it reveals a (fairly explicit) theorization of the relationship between the governing and the governed: every instrument constitutes a condensed form of knowledge about social control and ways of exercising it; and (2) instruments at work are not neutral devices: they produce specific effects, independently of the objective pursued (the aims ascribed to them), which structure public policy according to their own logic.

Agir dans un monde incertain : essai sur la démocratie technique

Abstract: Et s'il fallait enfin tirer les consequences des crises a repetition que nos societes traversent lorsqu'elles sont confrontees aux debordements inattendus des sciences et des techniques ? S'il fallait en finir une bonne fois pour toutes avec la vision heroique des decisions tranchantes et tranchees que le souverain prend en situation d'incertitude et en toute meconnaissance de cause ? Si Alexandre rengainait son epee, le monde s'effondrerait-il ? Non, mais la democratie, elle, en ressortirait fortifiee. Tel est le propos des auteurs de ce livre. Ces derniers refusent les traditionnelles oppositions entre specialistes et profanes, professionnels de la politique et citoyens ordinaires. Ils concentrent plutot leur attention sur les nouvelles relations entre savoir et pouvoir qui emergent des controverses sociotechniques et sur les procedures inventees pour les traiter. L'enjeu est de taille : faire apparaitre les conditions dans lesquelles les societes democratiques vont se rendre capables d'affronter les defis des sciences et des techniques, redefinir un espace public reunissant non pas des individus desincarnes mais des femmes et des hommes pris dans des histoires singulieres. Apres l'âge de la democratie delegative, celui de la democratie dialogique ?

Inherited Trust and Growth

Abstract: This paper develops a new method to uncover the causal effect of trust on economic growth by focusing on the inherited component of trust and its time variation. We show that inherited trust of descendants of US immigrants is sig- nificantly influenced by the country of origin and the timing of arrival of their forebears. We thus use the inherited trust of descendants of US immigrants as a time-varying measure of inherited trust in their country of origin. This strategy allows to identify the sizeable causal impact of inherited trust on worldwide growth during the twentieth century by controlling for country fixed effects. (JEL N11, N12, N31, N32, O47, Z13)

The Three Faces of Securitization: Political Agency, Audience and Context

Abstract: The prime claim of the theory of securitization is that the articulation of security produces a specific threatening state of affairs. Within this theory, power is derived from the use of ‘appropri...