The Precautionary Principle and the Evaluation of Environmental Policies

Posted on 15 September 2010 by admin

by Olivier Guéant (Cahier de la Chaire n°23)

This general readership article proposes an approach to evaluate what an economically and socially acceptable cost can be in the context of policies that aim at improving the environment. We stress the difficulty of considering a pre-determined utility function and propose an unusual methodology which is based on considering a distribution on the space of utility functions. One of our outcomes is a microeconomic foundation of the precautionary principle: the simple fact of hesitating between several utility functions invites to use the most environment-friendly one.

Keywords: Precautionary principle, Long term discount rate, Ecological discount rate, Sustainable development

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Convenience Yield and Commodity Markets

Posted on 14 September 2010 by admin

by Delphine Lautier (Cahier de la Chaire n°22)

This article explains the role of the convenience yield in the relationships linking spot and futures prices in commodity derivatives markets. First, this variable restores the non arbitrage relationship between the prices of the underlying asset and the derivative instrument. Second, it allows establishing connections between commodities and other assets. Third, it explains why firms store at an apparent loss. The convenience is however a controversial concept. Indeed, the absence of direct evidence for this quantity signifies, first that it is necessary to address the issue of estimating it and second, that it can be accused of being an ad hoc construction. Moreover, in spite of an early interest for this concept, there is no real consensus on its definition. This article aims at gathering all the reasonable explanations which were proposed trough time in the literature.

Keywords: Convenience yield, Arbitrage, Commodity, Inventory, Non storable commodities

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Chair’s Winter Day Conference: « Carbon Markets, Carbon Tax and Climate Policy »

Posted on 31 August 2010 by admin

February 18, 2010 – Université Paris-Dauphine

Speakers:

Richard Sandor : Founder of the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX), Research professor at the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University

Michel Moreaux : Professor at Toulouse School of Economics, Founder and Researcher at the Joint Research Unit for Environmental and Natural Resource Economics (INRA, University of Toulouse – Capitole)

Roger Guesnerie : Professor at Collège de France and at the Paris School of Economics

Schedule (in French)

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Finance & Sustainable Development: Opposition or Partnership?

Posted on 29 August 2010 by admin

Available at www.amazon.fr

Economic and financial considerations are often perceived as being antithetical to environmental concerns. Is it possible to reconcile economic development and growth with preservation of the planet and its resources? The authors of “Finance and Sustainable Development” believe reconciliation of these two seemingly opposite agendas isn’t just possible – it’s essential. Economic analysis of environmental problems has made considerable progress in recent decades. Growing concerns about sustainable development, and more particularly environmental and climate change, have emphasized the importance of this research. This book, an outgrowth of the December 2007 conference on ‘Finance and Sustainable Development: Opposition or Partnership?’ brings together many of the leading experts concerned with environmentally friendly growth. Their aim is to provide a better understanding of the long-term issues that must be considered when attempting to create any short-term solutions.

Pierre-André Chiappori, Jean-Michel Lasry, Damien Fessler (editors), Finance & Sustainable Development: Opposition or Partnership?, Economica, 2009.

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Sovereign Wealth Funds: A New Form of Capitalism?

Posted on 26 August 2010 by admin

October 4-5, 2010 – Columbia University

This closed-door conference co-organized by the Sovereign Wealth Fund Research Initiative and the Committee on Global Thought at Columbia University explores how SWFs and long term investors can provide investment solutions that reduce the risk of banking, climate, energy, and development crises, and how they can monetize their comparative advantage as long-term, socially responsible investors.

The conference aims to:

– explore how SWFs and other Long Term Investors can provide investment solutions that reduce the risk of future banking, climate, energy and development crises
– explore how SWFs and other Long Term Investors can monetize their comparative advantage as long-run, socially responsible investors

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Conference Overview – A Look To The World: “Finance and Sustainable Development: Opposition or Partnership?”

Posted on 26 August 2010 by admin

November 30 – December 1st, 2007

Organized jointly by Monaco Méditerranée Foundation and the Chair of Finance and Sustainable Development of the University of Paris Dauphine, support by Prince Albert II of

Monaco Foundation.

In public opinion and often, in policymakers’ views, economic and financial considerations are perceived as antinomical to environmental concerns. Is this opposition constitutive or is a beneficial partnership between these two concepts possible?

Shouldn’t it be possible to reconcile these two major trends of the century, economic development and growth on the one hand, and questions on the viability of the planet and its resources on the other hand? At a time when sustainable development has entered an action phase, answers to the considerable environmental and social challenges we face must rely on the efficiency of economic systems.

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Cours du Professeur Ivar Ekeland

Posted on 1 January 2010 by admin

Cours du Professeur Ivar Ekeland

Ce cours a été organisé par l’Ecole doctorale EDDIMO et la Chaire Finance et Développement Durable sur le thème “Prise de décision à très long terme: le cas du changement climatique” à l’Université Paris-Dauphine

Première leçon: croissance économique et taux d’intérêt: autour du modèle de Ramsey

27 janvier – salle Raymond Aron
Deuxième leçon: “Les mathématiques du modèle de Ramsey: un problème de calcul des variations en horizon infini”

1er février – salle A407
Troisième leçon: “Extensions du modèle de Ramsey pour tenir compte du développement durable:  Guesnerie-Lasry-Gueant, Uzawa, Chichilinisky, Ekeland-Lazrak”

3 février- salle A304

support de cours – powerpoint

texte de référence – Cahier de la Chaire n°27

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