RATHELOT Roland

This thesis explores the extent to which imperfect information and the prevalence of stereotypes act as barriers to high school students' academic success and their pursuit of higher education. The work conducted in this thesis is organized around three objectives. The first is to document the existence of such barriers in the French context. Using survey data as well as unpublished administrative data, this work takes stock of the prevalence of gender stereotypes and those associated with science among high school students and teachers of mathematics in the final year of science school (Chapters 1 and 3). The second objective is to measure the impact of these barriers on students' academic performance and on their choice of career path and enrollment in higher education. In Chapter 3, we study the influence of gendered academic assessments of mathematics teachers on these dimensions for science high school seniors. The final objective of this thesis is to evaluate measures to combat these barriers. Chapter 2 evaluates the Active Orientation policy implemented between 2009 and 2017, which aimed to remedy the lack of information students had when formulating their orientation wishes. Chapter 1 estimates the impact of the For Girls in Science program, a short classroom intervention by a female scientist, which aims to deconstruct stereotypes and spark interest in science careers among students, especially young high school girls.

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The widespread use of CVs to apply for jobs has led to the development of experimental research (known as correspondence studies or testing), which is based on targeted manipulation of the profile of candidates in fictitious CVs sent by researchers in response to job offers. Two recent meta-analyses (1 and 2) show that discrimination is significant regardless of the country or minority group studied, but the phenomenon is particularly widespread in Europe. Studies conducted in France to measure discrimination against applicants of North African or sub-Saharan African origin show exceptionally high levels. [First paragraph].

This dissertation analyzes the effectiveness of public policies in achieving their three main objectives: attracting and retaining quality teachers, helping teachers improve, and matching teachers to students in order to reduce educational inequalities. Compared to most of the existing academic literature devoted to educational policies for teachers, this thesis broadens the scope of analysis to the role of actors little studied in the literature: recruitment exam juries, school inspectors and school principals, but also substitute teachers, whether they are tenured or contractual, and finally extends the discussion to the educational system as a whole through the analysis of a non-monetary incentive mechanism put in place to attract and retain teachers in disadvantaged schools.

This thesis examines the effects of cash transfers on employment in the South African labor market, which is highly segmented between the formal and informal sectors. The first and main chapter shows that an unconditional cash transfer program for mothers has had lasting positive effects on the quality of their jobs. In the long run, mothers receiving the transfer are more likely to be employed in the formal sector. This is a consequence of changes in the way treated mothers seek employment. By giving them the opportunity to remain unemployed for a longer period of time, the unconditional transfer program allows them to seek higher quality jobs. The second chapter examines the employment effects of a reform of South Africa's non-contributory, means-tested public pension system. This reform lowered the retirement age from 65 to 60 for men. It has led to a sharp decline in the participation rate of informal workers, who stop working when they reach 60 and become eligible for the non-contributory pension. On the contrary, workers in the formal sector do not quit their jobs and do not turn to the informal sector to qualify for the retirement pension. Finally, this thesis addresses the issue of the low number of self-employed in South Africa. The final chapter shows that South Africans are not becoming more self-employed in response to cash transfers. This indicates that liquidity constraints are not the main reason for the lack of self-employment in South Africa. This low level of self-employment probably has historical roots related to apartheid. This third chapter examines the potential implications of this explanation, as well as possible future research avenues for a more detailed understanding of this phenomenon.

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Chapter 1 examines the role of home culture on how young men and women differ in their choices to delay leaving the parental home. I show that in cultures characterized by traditional gender role values, young men have more incentives than young women to stay at home. When women from these cultures move to a more gender-role liberal society, they leave home sooner and seek husbands from a different culture. In the second chapter, we show, based on CV testing, that young people with low qualifications are less likely to be recalled by private sector employers if they are North African than if they are French. However, the origin of the candidates has no effect on the recall rate in the public sector, even though recruiters in both sectors have similar discriminatory preferences. Our model shows that the absence of discrimination at the invitation for an interview in the public sector is compatible, in this context, with a higher discrimination at the hiring stage. Chapter 3 also uses CV testing to study the effects of work experience for high school dropouts four years after leaving school. In the absence of certification training, the recall rate is not higher for those who have had work experience, subsidized or not, in the market or non-market sector than for those who remain unemployed. Moreover, certification training improves recall rates only when the local unemployment rate is low.

In the three chapters of this thesis, I study the effect of prejudice and discriminatory preferences on the labor market. I am also interested in the effectiveness of public policies that aim to mitigate the negative effects of these preferences. In my first chapter, I use a famous case that changed the monopsony power of firms to see if, as Becker predicted, market failures have an impact on wage discrimination. My results show that when monopsony power decreases, wage discrimination disappears. This result shows that bias does not necessarily have to translate into wage discrimination. In the second chapter, I analyze the effect of another public policy, a 2015 reform that imposed gender quotas on academic selection committees in France. The goal of this reform was to improve women's rankings by increasing the share of women on committees. In evaluating the reform, I find the opposite effect: women are ranked lower by recruitment committees after the reform. However, this result does not show that women have a preference for men. The negative effect of the reform is only found in committees headed by male panel chairs, suggesting that men's behavior may have changed as a result of the reform as well. This chapter demonstrates the need to evaluate public policy, so that well-intentioned reforms do not cause more harm than good. In the third and final chapter, I focus on the location choices of individuals. I am particularly interested in the following question: Do workers prefer to live in a city with a higher proportion of residents of the same ethnic group as themselves, ceteris paribus? I use a spatial equilibrium model to answer this question. Controlling for individuals' wages, rents, transfer incomes, and networks, these preferences are comparable to real wages in individuals' city location choices. I then simulate the model to try to see what impact these preferences have on wage differentials between white and black workers in the United States.

This thesis is composed of four chapters that focus on different aspects of real estate markets. The first chapter considers real estate as a financial investment. We analyze the influence of real estate on households' portfolio choices and more precisely on the share of risky assets held. We distinguish between the effect of net housing wealth and the effect of housing debt and obtain two effects of opposite signs. The second chapter analyzes real estate as a durable good and seeks to explain its price formation on the basis of its own characteristics as well as those of its environment. The third chapter evaluates the impact of an increase in transfer taxes that took place between 2014 and 2016 in France on real estate volumes and prices. The effect of this reform was a decrease in transaction volumes only in the least tense areas, suggesting a very strong inelasticity of demand in tense markets. Moreover, the increase in the tax was entirely borne by the buyer, regardless of the degree of market tension. The fourth chapter is an analysis of the effects of the Zones Franches Urbaines (localized subsidy program) on real estate prices. The empirical results suggest that the implementation of these zones has had an inflationary effect on commercial real estate and to a lesser extent on residential real estate. Moreover, this inflationary effect is driven by zones with low real estate supply elasticity.

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We use data from an online marketplace of vacation rentals (Airbnb) collected in 19 major cities in North America and Europe to measure discrimination against ethnicminority hosts. This market has three interesting features: the existence of a detailed reviewing system, the high frequency of transactions and the panel dimension of the data. Using the fact that ratings provide potential guests with information about the quality of a listing, we build a credible measure of statistical discrimination, following a strategy a la Altonji and Pierret (2001). Hosts from a minority ethnic group charge 16% less than other hosts in the same cities. Controlling for a rich set of characteristics reduces the ethnic price gap to 3.2%. An additional review increases the daily price more for minority than for majority hosts. Estimating the parameters of a theoretical pricing model, we find that statistical discrimination accounts for most of the price differential: 2.

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This thesis seeks to analyze the residential dynamics of immigrant populations in France and their housing situation. Based on two large databases, the Permanent Demographic Sample (INSEE) and the Trajectories and Origins survey (INED/INSEE), which are among the few databases in France that make it possible to identify immigrants and their descendants over time (1990-2008), this research has three main empirical components. First, I propose an overview of the residential situations of immigrants and their descendants, focusing on the characteristics of the urban areas where these groups are concentrated, their housing tenure status, and the way these different residential dimensions are articulated. Second, taking advantage of the longitudinal dimension of the data, the analysis focuses on the residential mobility of these groups, tracing their trajectories through neighborhoods and housing. Finally, I conduct an intergenerational analysis of residential inequality to determine the extent to which individuals "inherit" the spatial positions of their parents. The analysis pays particular attention to the individual and contextual determinants of trajectories in order to better understand the mechanisms that structure housing and spatial inequalities.

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The geographic location of immigrant populations and their segregation in the most disadvantaged areas are often put forward as explanations for their lower educational performance and their unfavorable position in the labor market. In this paper, we seek to determine whether the educational achievement and labor market integration of young people with at least one parent born in North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, or the Near and Middle East are similar to those of young people with non-immigrant parents, given the same sociodemographic characteristics and place of residence. To do this, we use a unique opportunity offered by the geolocation at a very fine scale (Iris) of the Generation 1998 and 2004 surveys. The specifications used in the regression models allow us to measure the effect of the original variable after controlling for a wide range of individual variables and the geographical fixed effect at the Iris level (conditional logit). Our results highlight the magnitude of the differences between the descendants of immigrants and their counterparts who are descendants of natives. These differences remain even after controlling for geographic effects.

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This article provides empirical results on the patterns of native and immigrant geographic mobility in France. Using longitudinal data, we measure mobility from one French municipality (commune) to another over time and estimate the effect of the initial municipality's ethnic composition on the probability of moving out. Relying on a unique methodology, we try to correct for biases related to selection based on geographical and individual unobservables. Our findings tend to discredit the hypothesis of the "white flight" central pattern in residential mobility dynamics in France. Some evidence nevertheless denotes ethnic avoidance mechanisms in natives' relocating. We also find a strong negative and highly robust effect of co-ethnics' presence on immigrant geographic mobility. The final discussion explores some avenues to interpret these findings.

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This article provides empirical results on patterns of native and immigrant geographic mobility in France. Using longitudinal data, we measure mobility from one French municipality (commune) to another over time and estimate the effect of the initial municipality’s ethnic composition on the probability of moving out. These data allow us to use panel techniques to correct for biases related to selection based on geographic and individual unobservables. Our findings tend to discredit the hypothesis of a “white flight” pattern in residential mobility dynamics in France. Some evidence does show ethnic avoidance mechanisms in natives’ relocating. We also find a strong negative and highly robust effect of co-ethnics’ presence on immigrants’ geographic mobility.

This article provides empirical results on the patterns of native and immigrant geographic mobility in France. Using longitudinal data, we measure mobility from one French municipality (commune) to another over time and estimate the effect of the initial municipality's ethnic composition on the probability of moving out. Relying on a unique methodology, we try to correct for biases related to selection based on geographical and individual unobservables. Our findings tend to discredit the hypothesis of the "white flight" central pattern in residential mobility dynamics in France. Some evidence nevertheless denotes ethnic avoidance mechanisms in natives' relocating. We also find a strong negative and highly robust effect of co-ethnics' presence on immigrant geographic mobility. The final discussion explores some avenues to interpret these findings.

This article reports the results from a randomized experiment designed to evaluate the direct and indirect (displacement) impacts of job placement assistance on the labor market outcomes of young, educated job seekers in France. We use a two-step design. In the first step, the proportions of job seekers to be assigned to treatment (0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, or 100%) were randomly drawn for each of the 235 labor markets (e.g., cities) participating in the experiment. Then, in each labor market, eligible job seekers were randomly assigned to the treatment, following this proportion. After eight months, eligible, unemployed youths who were assigned to the program were significantly more likely to have found a stable job than those who were not. But these gains are transitory, and they appear to have come partly at the expense of eligible workers who did not benefit from the program, particularly in labor markets where they compete mainly with other educated workers, and in weak labor markets. Overall, the program seems to have had very little net benefits.

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Purpose – The purpose of this study is to examine the empirical links between social housing policy and location choices of immigrants in France. Design/methodology/approach – The study characterizes the main individual and contextual determinants of the probability of immigrants to live in a HLM (habitations à loyer modéré), which is the main public housing policy in France. The authors use individual information coming from large (one-fourth) extracts of the French population censuses conducted by INSEE (Paris) in 1982, 1990, and 1999. Findings – In general, migrants live more frequently in social housing than French natives, other observables being equal. In particular, this frequency is higher for migrants from Turkey, Morocco, Southeast Asia, Algeria, Tunisia and Sub-Saharan Africa (in decreasing order). Moreover, migrants of all origins live less often in a HLM when the city has plenty of social housing and when the fraction of natives is high. Research limitations/implications – The dataset can only measure statistical association between location choices of immigrants and the supply of social housing units at the local level, in the absence of panel data and instrumental variables. Interpretation in terms of causality is thus not permitted. Originality/value – The dataset used is especially valuable for studying location choices of immigrants, since it allows significant samples of immigrants, according to their country of origin, these groups being generally too small in (French) surveys.

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The objective of this thesis is to shed quantitative empirical light on the phenomena of discrimination against the descendants of immigrants in the labor market and the residential segregation of immigrants on French territory. The main results are as follows. The wage gap between French people of French parents and those of African parents is almost entirely explained by a human capital gap between the two groups. Conversely, these differences in human capital do not explain the large gap in employment probability. When controlling for the influence of place of residence, the unexplained component of the employment gap decreases but remains substantial. This thesis also provides results on the location, geographic concentration and residential segregation of immigrants and their children. In particular, a method for decomposing wage gaps that takes selection into account as well as a method for decomposing employment gaps that takes place of residence into account are proposed. A new method for correcting the bias of segregation indices using units with few observations is also introduced and validated. Finally, a non-parametric kernel estimation method is used to compute the local proportion of a minority in the territory. A concentration index using directly these estimated proportions is also developed.