This collective work is a synthesis of CEPREMAP’s latest work on democracy, in response to the major challenges of the 21st century.
The first chapter, written by Fanny HENRIET and Katheline SCHUBERT, focuses on the energy transition to a net-zero world. This investment-intensive transition will be long, difficult, and costly, and the long-term impact on growth is not clear. Two worldviews are exposed to climate change: the pessimistic belief that the solution can only come from economic downturn or collapse; and optimistic faith in life-saving technological progress. However, effectively tackling climate change avoids high adaptation costs. The authors have a number of levers; some are more effective, others easier to implement, but none can be used alone.
In the second chapter, Jean-François LASLIER explores innovative voting methods, such as “vote by evaluation” as opposed to “single member vote” and their impact on the results of elections. A passage is dedicated to Nicolas de Condorcet, economist under Turgot, and a key figure in the theory of voting. The author presents the work carried out from several French and US elections and concludes on a positive note. Voters are ready to experiment and express themselves in these new ways of voting, which would leave democracy intact.
Thomas Renault then gave an overview on the use of Twitter to measure the well-being of French people. Before becoming X following Musk’s takeover in November 2022, the Twitter platform was accessible to researchers to collect opinions, thoughts and emotion metrics. In the study presented, the database consists of more than 23 million messages sent between 2010 and 2022. Once the sample has been constructed and corrected for biases (the effect of robots, among others), it turns out that it is possible to construct relevant and robust indicators to measure French morale in addition to surveys carried out in a more traditional way.
In a fourth chapter, Quentin LIPPMAN presents his study on the effect of the “parity law” of 6 June 2000 on the number of women elected, their place in the political sphere and in the business world. While the law has increased the number of women on boards, it has not affected the highest positions in the company. The acceleration effect is not significant for two main reasons: the time-consuming nature of positions in the hierarchy seems incompatible with their greater family responsibilities. Women are also less ambitious than men and less eager to occupy these positions of power.
Finally, Philippe ASKENAZY and Thomas BREDA address the theme of democracy at work, which is reflected in the close links with staff representation and collective bargaining. They also reflect on the obstacles to the implementation of a democracy at work, reflected in the collective expression of employees’ interests and aspirations. They end with a call to strengthen the capacities and competences of the social partners in order to resume social dialog.
The authors are members of CEPREMAP (Center for Economic Research and its Applications). Its mission is to provide an interface between the academic world and public decision-making. Daniel COHEN was its director from 2005 to 2023. Since her disappearance, Claudia SENIK has taken over its management.
Column by Sophie Friot
