The crisis and after: academic recommendations for France

The fight against the Covid-19 pandemic continues and is unfortunately not yet won. This is evidenced by the latest figures available, which show a death toll of nearly 1.2 million people for more than 43 million cases worldwide. In Europe, the situation is no more enviable: the much-feared second wave seems, in fact, to be falling on the Old Continent, in particular France, after the heavy toll of last spring.

Faced with this situation, which is both unprecedented and difficult to manage, new restrictions are being implemented in our country and among our neighbors. And we can only hope that these restrictive measures for populations work and reduce the circulation of the virus. However, the economic consequences are emerging, knowing that 2020 is already predicted to be the strongest recession since the post-war period.

To reverse this negative trend and move forward, the European authorities have agreed on a joint recovery plan. While this decision is of course in the right direction to fight the crisis and promote stronger European integration, the funds will not be released until next year at best. In the meantime, European states must organize themselves and resist this second wave as best they can. In France, this is reflected in particular in measures to support businesses so that they can deal with this unprecedented shock.

At the Louis Bachelier Institute, our contribution to this revival is being made through academic research. We are mobilized with public authorities and companies to provide recommendations and expertise based on scientific work. This new issue of Cahiers Louis Bachelier, focused on the situation in France, includes first-class academic recommendations to feed and guide public debate. In the first interview, Brigitte Dormont, an economist specializing in health, thus gives her opinion on the management of the health crisis and her thoughts to improve the health system. In the second interview, Pierre Cahuc, a labour market expert, analyses the labour market support measures decided by the authorities. The third article is devoted to new work by the Digital Finance Chair, co-directed by Marianne Verdier and David Bounie, who collaborated with the Council for Economic Analysis to study the dynamics of consumption and savings since lockdown, using banking data. Finally, the last article is based on recent work by Guy Meunier, an associate researcher at the Energy & Prosperity Chair, who conducted a survey to measure people's motivations to avoid the spread of the virus. This work then allowed them to draw a parallel with behavioral biases that need to be integrated into environmental policies.

Happy reading!

Jean-Michel Beacco,

General Delegate of the Louis Bachelier Institute

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