Published papers

• “A Decomposition of Labor Earnings Growth: Recovering Gaussianity?” with L. Wilner. Labour Economics, 63, 101807, 2020. Non-technical summary (in French).
  Abstract

  Recent works have concluded that labor earnings dynamics exhibit non-Gaussian and nonlinear features. We argue in this paper that this finding is mainly due to volatility in working time. Using a non-parametric approach, we find from French data that changes in labor earnings exhibit strong asymmetry and high peakedness. However, after decomposing labor earnings growth into growth in wages and working time, deviations from Gaussianity stem from changes in working time. The nonlinearity of earnings dynamics is also mostly driven by working time dynamics at the extensive margin.
  Media coverage

  BFMTV, Le Figaro.

• “Gender Equality on the Labour Market in France: A Slow Convergence Hampered by Motherhood”, with D. Meurs. Economie et Statistique / Economics and Statistics, 510-511-512, 109-130, 2019.
  Abstract

  In France since the 1970s, the growth in labour force has been driven largely by that of women’s participation in the labour market and the fact that they interrupt their careers less often after motherhood. Their level of education has also risen considerably, and they have, on average, been more highly educated than men since the 1990s. But these developments did not result in reducing the gender pay gap to what might have been expected: the average hourly wage gap in the private sector has remained around 20% since the mid-1990s. In this average gap, the share explained by differences in human capital (education, experience) was cancelled out and even reversed between 1968 and 2015. The persistence of the wage gap now appears to be mainly linked to the consequences of motherhood. A child’s arrival causes mothers a loss of annual income largely due to adjustments in their working time. This penalty is higher for mothers whose wages are at the bottom of the wage distribution.
  Media coverage

  Alternatives Économiques, La Croix, Les Échos.

• “The Individual Dynamics of Wage Income in France During the Crisis”, with L. Wilner. Economie et Statistique / Economics and Statistics, 494-495-496, 179-199, 2017.
  Abstract

  The uncertain nature of future income limits the ability of agents to smooth their consumption over time. Variation in this uncertainty can thus bring about variation in well-being. We study the evolutions of the uncertainty on wage income in France before and over the course of the crisis of 2008 drawing on longitudinal administrative data. Using a non‑parametric method, we estimate the magnitude and form of this uncertainty and show that they depend on past wage income. This uncertainty is broken down into wage and working time, and according to the mobility of the wage earners. During the crisis, the magnitude of this uncertainty on future wage income increases slightly, and its downward asymmetry is stronger at both ends of the wage income scale: with this uncertainty, unfavourable evolutions have a bigger impact during the crisis than in the preceding period. This is explained by a heightened probability of unfavourable individual evolutions in terms of working time for the lowest‑paid workers, and in terms of wage for the highest-paid. Mobility is more frequent during the crisis but the uncertainty associated with it is lower than over the preceding years.

Invited contributions

• “Telework and Productivity Three Years After the Start of the Pandemic”. Economie et Statistique / Economics and Statistics, 539, 91-96, 2023.
  Abstract

  Since March 2020, the COVID‑19 pandemic has caused many companies and employees to turn to telework. The articles by Bergeaud et al. (2023) and Criscuolo et al. (2023) document the effects of telework on productivity in detail and, more broadly, its effects on the behaviour of companies and employees, both before and during the health crisis. This commentary discusses their findings in terms of the uncertain knowledge that was available on the effects of telework before the health crisis, as well as the technical and conceptual difficulties raised by estimating the consequences of telework. Finally, it examines the apparent paradox whereby, despite its positive effects on both the productive efficiency of companies and the working conditions of employees, teleworking remained rare prior to 2020.

Working papers

• “Keep Working and Spend Less? Collective Childcare and Parental Earnings in France” (latest draft). EconomiX Working Paper 2020-29. Non-technical summary (in French).
  Abstract

  I leverage the staggered expansion of subsidized childcare facilities across municipalities in response to a succession of national plans to investigate the effect of collective childcare on parents' labor outcomes and childcare choices in France between 2007 and 2015. These plans did not lead to any substantial change in parents' labor outcomes or in paid parental leave take-up. Instead, these collective childcare expansions crowded out more costly formal childcare solutions, such as childminders or at-home childcare. These crowding-out effects highlight a downside of family policy strategies that foster the coexistence of multiple childcare arrangements.
  Media coverage

  BFMTV, Espace Social Européen, Europe 1, L'Assmat, La Provence, Le Journal des Femmes, Le Figaro, Le Parisien, Les Échos, Les Pros de la Petite Enfance, Maire Info.

• “Child Penalties and Financial Incentives: Exploiting Variation along the Wage Distribution”, with L. Wilner. CREST Working Paper 2019-17. Non-technical summary (in French).
  Abstract

  We relate women's labor earnings losses due to motherhood to their pre-childbirth rank in the distribution of hourly wages. Using French administrative data, we show that these "child penalties" decrease steeply along the distribution; by contrast, the related hourly wage losses are fairly homogeneous. Low-wage mothers leave the labor market or reduce their working hours more frequently; the magnitude of such responses is monotonic along the distribution. This empirical evidence highlights the contribution of financial incentives to the child penalty.
  Media coverage

  Alternatives Économiques, BFMTV, Challenges, CNews, Cosmopolitan, Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace, France 2, France Info, France Inter, Glamour, L'Express, L'Humanité, L'info durable, Le Figaro, Le Journal du Dimanche, Le Monde, Le Monde Diplomatique, Les Échos, Le Parisien, Mieux Vivre, Ouest France, Sciences Humaines.

Work in progress

• “Do Children Explain Nurses Shortages?”, Non-technical summary (in French).

• “Job Displacement, Families and Redistribution”, with R. Lardeux, draft available soon.

• “Short-Term Contracts, Long-Term Consequences?”, with O. Bonnet and S. Georges-Kot. Non-technical summary (in French).

  Media coverage

  20 Minutes, BFMTV, Challenges, France 3, France Bleu, France Inter, L'Express, La Croix, La Tribune, Le Figaro, Les Échos, Libération, Rebondir.