Center for Environmental Economics - Montpellier - Weekly Publications feed

Nouvelle publication dans PLoS ONE de Bougherara Douadia, Gosset Léa, Préget Raphaële, Thoyer Sophie, A priming nudge targeting innovative farmers: A large-scale survey experiment

2026-03-30 11:46:10

Bougherara Douadia, Gosset Léa, Préget Raphaële, Thoyer Sophie
PLoS ONE 21: e0345658
2026

This article measures farmers' innovativeness and the effectiveness of a priming nudge on their (stated) intention to adopt an innovation, namely the French "Low-carbon label" (LCL). The LCL is an innovative certification framework that provides farmers with a potential new "green business model," enabling them to generate income through the sale of certified carbon credits earned by reducing their own greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Using 6,005 responses to an online survey with French farmers, we validate an original scale designed to measure farmers' capacity to innovate and find that innovativeness is positively correlated with stated intention to adopt the LCL. We then evaluate with a randomized experiment included in the questionnaire the net impact of a priming nudge, defined as exposure to a lexical field designed to unconsciously activate psychological factors, and implemented here with references to innovation in order to target the most innovative farmers. We show that the nudge has no detectable impact on the surveyed sample: it neither increases adoption intentions among the most innovative farmers nor discourages the less innovative ones. This absence of effect leads us to discuss the effectiveness of nudges when trying to influence farmers' high-stakes decisions.

Nouvelle publication dans Communications Earth & Environment de Houngbedji Kenneth, Bouvier Marc, Leblois Antoine, Makak Jean-Sylvestre, Mertens Benoit, Forest management plan validation gradually reduces forest loss in Congo Basin concessions

2026-03-30 11:46:11

Houngbedji Kenneth, Bouvier Marc, Leblois Antoine, Makak Jean-Sylvestre, Mertens Benoit
Communications Earth & Environment
2026

Forest management plans are central to regulations governing logging concessions in the Congo Basin, yet their long-term effectiveness remains uncertain. Here, we combine annual satellite-derived forest change data with administrative concession records and exploit variation in the timing of plan validation across five countries to assess how validation influences forest-cover dynamics from 2000 to 2020 using counterfactual impact-evaluation methods. We find that concessions with validated plans experience a gradual, sustained decline in forest loss, averaging 100 ± 44 hectares per year, equivalent to a 47% reduction relative to concessions operating without validated plans. Effects persist for up to 19 years and occur in concessions with and without independent third-party certification. These results indicate that accelerating the validation and implementation of forest management plans can substantially reduce forest disturbance in the Congo Basin.

Nouvelle publication dans International Game Theory Review de Claude Denis, Tidball Mabel, Revisiting Stackelberg in His Own Light: Conjecture Learning in Leader-Follower Games

2026-03-30 11:46:11

Claude Denis, Tidball Mabel
International Game Theory Review
à paraître

This paper revisits Heinrich F. von Stackelberg's original description of leader-follower games under incomplete information, exploring how learning dynamics shape strategic interaction. The leader iteratively updates its conjecture about the follower's reaction function before choosing an activity level that maximizes its payoff. The follower, in turn, responds optimally to each activity level, revealing information that the leader uses to refine its conjecture. Assuming linear conjectures, a smooth updating process à la Jean-Marie and Tidball [2006], and quadratic payoff functions, we establish conditions under which the learning process converges asymptotically to a self-confirming steadystate. We characterize the resulting activity levels and payoffs in two canonical environments: a sequential partnership game and a sequential duopoly game with quantity competition. We then compare the learning outcomes to both the (complete information) Stackelberg and the cartel solution. In the process, we find conditions under which the lack of information and the resulting strategic ambiguity lead to higher joint payoffs, and under which usual intuitions about the first-mover advantage need qualifications.

Nouveau CEE-M working paper de Serra Daniel, Une courte note sur l’évolution des pratiques de l’économie expérimentale au cours de la dernière décennie

2026-03-30 11:46:11

Serra Daniel
CEE-M working papers WP 2026-07: 3 p.
2026

La Revue de philosophie économique a publié en 2025 un numéro spécial pour son Vingt-cinquième anniversaire. Parmi les auteurs des 25 articles retenus pour illustrer la place que la revue a jouée dans l’évolution de la pensée économique depuis sa création en 2000 figurent des chercheurs aussi prestigieux que John Rawls, Amartya Sen, Jean-Pierre Dupuy ou Philippe van Parijs. L’ouvrage inclut aussi, entre autres, un article de Daniel Serra intitulé « Principes et pratiques de l’économie expérimentale : une vue d’ensemble », publié en 2012. Le complément à l’article qui devait initialement être joint n’ayant pu l’être pour des raisons d’édition, il est diffué ici sous forme de note

Nouveau CEE-M working paper de Girard Julia, Desbureaux Sébastien, Lavaine Emmanuelle, Leblois Antoine, Razanakoto Thierry, Environmental regulations and spillovers across ecosystems: Fisheries and forests protection in coastal Madagascar *

2026-03-31 13:54:11

Girard Julia, Desbureaux Sébastien, Lavaine Emmanuelle, Leblois Antoine, Razanakoto Thierry
CEE-M working papers WP 2026-04: 87 p.
2026

Policy analyses often treat ecosystems in isolation, overlooking the complex interconnections that define socio-ecological systems. However, conservation measures in one ecosystem may produce unintended spillover effects in another-a phenomenon that remains poorly understood. This dynamic could be particularly important in coastal regions, where one billion people live, many of whom rely on access to both fisheries and land resources for their livelihoods. In Madagascar, where agricultural expansion commonly occurs through forest conversion, we wonder if increasing the protection of one of these resources, fisheries, results in greater use and pressure on another resource, forests. We conducted a household survey of 1,120 households across 41 villages. The results show that spillovers between marine and terrestrial resources are likely to occur but that increasing the regulation of marine resources can have an ambiguous effect on deforestation. Next, we combine matching and difference-in-differences models to quantify the effect of creating 200 locally managed marine areas on deforestation across the entire country over 17 years. We find that spillovers do occur in terrestrial areas following the interventions and, on average, lead to a 68% increase in forest cover loss. This increase in deforestation is more pronounced in remote areas, in regions with greater baseline forest cover, and in places that receive less precipitation.