Please see the pdf version of the letter here.
It’s a real pleasure to address all PSE alumni with this letter at the beginning of 2021 !
As you know, the PSE adventure started in 2006. Since then, more than 900 students and 400 PhD students have been welcomed. A new building, inaugurated in 2017 boulevard Jourdan, has allowed us to federate this young school, since then it has become one of the best in the world. The story and success of PSE is for sure those of its very high level researchers. It is also the success of its alumni, of all the graduates, with a Master’s or a PhD, who allow the school to shine in research, but also in various public institutions and large companies in private sector. We need to maintain and develop this network of alumni. It is for this reason that the alumni association was created, to promote the alumni network and facilitating the arrival of young graduates.
The association tries to keep this network alive and to be useful to alumni around the various tools that exist, notably the website that traces all the news of the network but also all the job offers that may be of interest to alumni, and with the help of Véronique Guillotin, in charge of doctoral students at PSE and the Alumni network (whom I would like to thank for her great involvement), the association tries to keep this network alive and to be useful to alumni.
The new board, which is presented later in this letter, started its work almost a year ago. Since then, the covid crisis has profoundly slowed down our projects. However, we hope that this is only a setback and that we will soon be able to achieve what we had imagined. We had set ourselves two goals. First, to make the association a real tool for alumni. To do this, we have already introduced some changes to the website in order to facilitate contact or job offers searches. We are also relaying on social networks the different events (conferences, summer school…) that might interest you. The second, to federate this network of alumni to promote the PSE spirit. With the new building and the rise of the Synapse association, a real cohesion has been created within the classes. It is essential that this spirit of cohesion continues and is transmitted between the different generations, in France and abroad. This letter, designed in the current period of pandemic, follows these two objectives : to inform members about the network’s activity but also to create a durable and regular link between us. We hope you will like it and we are open to all your comments. Do not hesitate to share with us all your ideas on the activity of the association: all good wills are welcome! I wish you a good reading !
Hugo Rzasa, President of the Board of PSE Alumni
Please see the pdf version of the letter here.
All of you contribute to the success of PSE!
One of the essential missions carried out by PSE since its creation in December 2006 has been to help train hundreds of students in economics. The brand of PSE in terms of teaching is certainly to combine theoretical and empirical approaches in the service of an analytical requirement. These characteristics are useful in the field of academic research and in the professional world. They give students who have followed PSE training a specific identity that can be found regardless of the diversity of professions and positions they subsequently occupy. In any case, PSE is proud to be able to pass on the knowledge of its researchers within the framework of its masters and its doctoral program. PSE, through its alumni network, seeks to extend this relationship well beyond this training period by keeping close contact during their professional life. We still have projects to carry out together, to learn from each other and to strengthen the visibility of its members and that of the PSE institution. We all have an interest in sharing our actions with each other within an active network.
For that we needed to structure it. Here I would like to thank Véronique Guillotin for the decisive action of the past two years, which has considerably improved the network. I also wanted to thank Marie Philipon who has always pushed, as Secretary General of PSE, in favor of the establishment of a PSE alumni network. And then some of you played a decisive role in agreeing to take care of the development of this network. I would like to warmly thank these members because of course an alumni network is nothing without the determined action of (ex) students. Now that the framework of the network is strengthened, it must be developed more actively by the support of all, by the implementation of actions that bring the community together and make it more visible. In the next few days, I will meet with PSE Alumni members of the board to consider the actions that we will submit to you, as we will listen to your proposals. However we will only achieve our objectives if everyone gets involved and becomes an active member. We are counting on you more than ever!
Jean-Olivier Hairault, Director of PSE-Ecole d’économie de Paris
Please see the pdf version of the letter here.
We need you !
The development of the association and the network depends also on you ! In order for the registers to be up to date and give a realistic view of the jobs and locations of each person, we need you to update your profiles on the website. We also need you to improve our job offer database. So please send us any offer if a job offer exists in your institution, communicate it to alumni@psemail.eu so that we can add it to our database. Finally, follow us on social networks and ask for access to alumni groups (“student@PSE” on Facebook and “Paris School of Economics – PSE Alumni” on Linkedin) to keep you informed and interact with other alumni! All the necessary links are available at the bottom of the page!
Alumni Network
You can now get an overview of our awesome alumni network with our interactive map! It allows you to find all our Alumni members over all over the word.
How do I access it?
Through our website, once login you can click on “find an alumni”, and follow the steps to get your username and password and then access the interactive maps.
Alumni’s portrait: Cyprien Batut
Cyprien Batut, PSE PhD 2020, is a French economist currently working in the French Treasury. He completed a PhD in Economics in Paris School of Economics in 2020. His thesis supervisor was Pr. Eric Maurin. His research interests are in Labor economics, and mostly in applied topics.
He has studied several french labor market policies but recently he also worked on the economic impact of refugee hosting, unions and violence against women. He is very pleased to invite you to read his recent paper related to « The impact of Covid-19 on work: telemigration, relocation and environment ». (in French: L’impact du Covid-19, sur le monde du travail)
What will be the consequences of this telework experience? In this paper, Cyprien Batut analyses three of great importance and interest: the impact on the environment, the risk of relocation of skilled jobs and the reduction of spatial inequalities. But in the future there will be other aspects that economists and sociologists will have to study because the few elements we know about the effects of telework on productivity and workers’ well-being is based on the world before, the world where telework consisted, at best, of one or two days a week. ” – Cyprien Batut’s website –
A Youtube channel created by a former PSE Ph.D !
« The humanist channel » is a Youtube channel launched by Adrien Fabre, a former PSE Ph.D student, which aims to tackle issues such as ecology, democracy, redistribution and other economic policies. His channel’s purpose is also to come up with concrete ideas in order to enhance the functioning of the society. Each video of “The humanist channel” has English subtitles!
What topics do you cover in your channel?
Thanks for reaching me! I have just launched a first batch of 17 videos of 5-15 min grouped into three playlists: ecology, democracy, and redistribution. Later I may record new ones: on economic policies, ethics, data governance, and interviews of economists. I started with the topics that I find the most important politically. Indeed, humanism aims at fostering a sustainable society, both environmentally and socially, where the power of decision is shared equitably.
Do you think there is a lack of economic channels on platforms such as Youtube and if yes was it a motivation to create yours?
Yes, apart from Heu?reka (mainly devoted to finance) there are very few good economic channels in French (I don’t know for other languages). Note that my goal though is not to popularize economic research, but to disseminate humanist ideas and proposals. So my channel doesn’t fill the “economics” room (you can go for it!). But there is another empty room I am trying to fill up: channels that take side on politics and defend their ideas in a rigorous, documented way.
Sometimes you give your opinion in your videos, do you think an economist should give their point of view about contemporary topics or rather rely on facts and studies?
Many economists do not defend any ideology and focus on providing sound research, and this is great (as long as they are aware of underlying tropisms and make their ethical assumptions explicit). But in my case, I chose economics precisely to give me tools to refine and develop my humanist ideology, to confront it to alternative ones, to enrich it with facts and studies.
Having the opportunity to defend proposals using academic sources is of a strength and one should use it with the due care and responsibility.
That being accounted for, beyond my profession of researcher I am an engaged citizen and as such I find myself legitimate to give my opinions, however bold they may sound.
Why did you choose Youtube instead of other medium?
Actually I tried other media first: I wrote an essay, posts on social media, columns in newspapers… and I am much more comfortable with writing than acting. But I thought I might be able to reach more people with Youtube videos, being myself an avid watcher of serious channels like Politikon, Le Réveilleur, Science4All… Let’s see if it works out.
Which video of your channel would you recommend watching first?
Although it is the last video of my series on ecology, if you’d watch only one I’d recommend the “global basic income” one. Applying the most common ethical criterion to the most common economic model of climate change tells you that we should implement a global basic income financed by a global tax on greenhouse gas emissions. This would eradicate extreme poverty and tackle climate change. I hope there is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come!
PSE ALUMNI BUZZ SQUAD
The new Alumni team started its work at the end of 2019. It is composed of the board of the association, as well as Véronique Guillotin, from PSE, in charge of the link between the school and the association.
The board
Hugo is the president. In addition to managing relations with the school, he organizes the work of the association in order to develop new projects. Jean-Rémy is vice-president of the association. Former president of the Synapse association, he initiated the PSE student newspaper (the “48”) at that time and therefore supports the launch of this newsletter.
Clémence is the treasurer of the association. Beyond the financial aspects, she takes care of the more technical aspects of the website. Alban is the secretary of the association and manages the publication elements on the website (portrait, job offer …), with the support of Veronique Guillotin. Finally, Xavier is responsible for the communication of the association. He is in charge of regular updates on social networks (Facebook and LinkedIn) as well as mailing campaigns.
PSE
On the administration side, Veronique Guillotin, in charge of doctoral students and alumni at PSE, is the permanent relay within the school for the association. She manages the association on a daily basis by posting job offers on the website, contacting the alumni to write their portraits and linking up with new members. If you have any questions and you decide to send an mail, she will surely answer. You have understood that without Veronique’s precious work, there is no association.
… and you !
Finally, in this large team, there are each one of you, the members of the association. Graduated from one of the masters delivered by PSE or having completed your PhD at the school, you are a member and a full member of the Alumni network.
As such, we need you to keep the network alive! Be an active member and update your profile on the website, send us job offers from your institution so that our network lives and develops !
Save the date …
Summer School 2021: We will welcome the next Summer School in Jourdan from June 14 to July 2 ! Share the information with your colleagues and friends that would be interested to know more about economic research on key issues in order to better understand the economic world! Information and registration here!
Applications for the MSc EDCBA are now opened ! The Economic Decision and Cost Benefit Analysis master is designed for new and recent graduates. Information here!
Conferences:
- On April 22, 2021, lecture by Pr. Oleg Itskhoki (Princeton University, UCLA)
- On May 25, 2021, Workshop “Capital flows and globalization in historical and current perspectives”
- On May 28, 2021, lecture by Pr. Jordi Gali (Universitat Pompeu Fabra and Autònoma de Barcelona, GPEFM)
Please send us job offers to: ☞ alumni@psemail.eu
Please access to the pdf version of the letter here.
Photo credits : PSE - École d’Économie de Paris (p.1, p.2, p.3 p.4) & Shutterstock (p.2)