Économie politique | EPFL Graph Search

L'économie politique peut s'entendre dans un sens général comme étant l'économie de la cité par opposition à l'économie domestique. L'expression d'« économie politique » est créée au début du et employée à l'origine selon Charles Gide pour décrire . Pour Léon Walras, l'économie politique se définit comme l’exposé de ce qui est, et le programme de ce qui devrait être. Si Antoine de Montchrestien, avec son Traicté de l'Œconomie Politique paru en 1615, est traditionnellement considéré comme l'un des premiers à employer ce vocable dans le sens pré-cité, Gregory King, historien de l'économie, indique pour sa part que le premier à utiliser l'expression « économie politique » serait Louis Turquet de Mayerne en 1611 dans son livre La Monarchie Aristodémocratique ; ou le gouvernement composé et meslé des trois formes de légitimes républiques. Dans la seconde partie du , le mot « économie » remplace progressivement le terme d'« économie politique ». Si William Stanley Jevons, un tenant de l

Seeking methods for improving sustainability in the extractive sector

Farnaz Eslamishoar

Extractive resources are indisputably a necessary component of international sustainable development. Despite current advancements in the circular economy, world production needs for raw materials are ever increasing, and still a long way remains for it to become rather independent from mineral resources. At the same time, mining has too many negative stories in news headlines about its trade-offs for the environment and human health, which hinders sustainable growth. This thesis deals with this integral dilemma in three chapters. In Chapter 1, I have made an extensive effort to understand the socio-political aspects of the mining business, both internationally and specifically in the context of a developing country, and on the issue of the corporate social responsibility the company requires. I then continued with gathering my primary sources of data for answering my first question: What are the primary social variables contributing to mining sustainability issues? I derived theories from Economic Growth in the Political Economy and Institutional Void from Management Science, trying to place my findings in a broader context. I concluded this chapter with underlying sociopolitical factors interfering with sustainable mining practices. This has led to the shaping of the second chapter of my thesis. Chapter 2 builds on the given that throughout the model of Economic Growth, technological change can happen within a shorter timeline and that new technologies lead to more efficiency in the Process Innovation. The mining industry is no exception. Yet, my quick review at the time revealed that this industry is lagging incumbent mainstream businesses in technological adoption. I therefore made my aim here to discuss conditions for transitions towards a more technologically innovative mining business. I surveyed mining firms internationally and noted the critical criteria for responsible practices. I then made what had been to my knowledge and ability, an exhaustive grouping of innovative technologies for the different sectors of mining firms. These tools granted me the ability to perform different multivariate analyses and decide on the best method for benchmarking different technology groups based on these criteria. In the later part of my thesis (Chapter 3), having these findings in hand and all experiences and observations in place with my assumptions, I decided to take one step back to ask whether the criteria I have for measuring mining sustainability are the correct measures by looking through the question using emerging data science tools. Are the sustainability scopes commonly discussed in the mining community the most crucial sustainability problems of this sector? Having the sustainability reports of all major international mining firms in hand, I evaluated around 3500 documents containing 8 million words discussing current sustainability matters pertaining to mining firms. Through implementing appropriate algorithms of Topic Modeling, I introduced five new main scopes for mining sustainability used to examine the discourse and groupings through this framework to observe any possible differences among the conventional and the generated lists. The results of my thesis are my two conceptual frameworks, technological benchmarking assessment tools, and a data-driven sustainability domains list, as well as the innovation policy recommendations for the mining community.

EPFL2021

The political economy of climate policy

Alexandra Quandt

Implementation of policies and measures is an important feature of effective climate policy design. In the political decision process, implementation depends to some extent on interest group influence. This project deals with business interest groups influencing climate policy making in Switzerland and the European Union. The public choice literature provides multiple reasons for organizations to become active as ‘institutional entrepreneurs’ (1). Firms may develop non-market strategies in order to dilute or postpone stringent legislation, or penalize competitors, e.g. by lobbying for ambitious technology standards. Voluntary approaches have become known as possible strategy for pre-emptive behaviour (2). In Switzerland, one famous example is the implementation of the climate cent in 2005, replacing the CO2 tax on transport fuels until present (3). The first part of the analysis deals with the positions of firms on climate policy. Document analysis of the consultation on the Swiss CO2 law in 2009 shows a pluralist landscape of industry positions. We find that the business community is no solid block opposing climate legislation but a broad field of firms with multiple positions on climate policy, including opponents and proponents. Economic sectors opposing climate legislation are oil and refineries, the heavy industries, and road transport. Proponents of climate policy are renewable energies, forestry and timber production, finance and insurance, building services and manufacturing, and Swiss retailers. Peak business associations and road transport associations tend to overestimate the costs of climate policies and measures for their businesses, whereas firms that are not owned by shareholders tend to show more environmental responsibility. The second part of the analysis compares the arguments provided in the consultation documents with the parliamentary discourse in Switzerland. We assess the degree of interest group representation as proxy for political power of business actors in political decision making. It turns out that peak industry associations, the oil industry, and road transport associations seem to have considerable influence on Swiss climate policy making. Finally, a case study on the voluntary agreement, signed by the Swiss car importers and the Swiss Federal Council in 2002, illustrates our theoretical propositions on non-market strategies in climate policy for Swiss road transport. The findings are likewise reflected in the case of the voluntary agreement signed by the association of European car manufacturers in 1998.

2010

The Political Economy of Climate Policy

Alexandra Quandt

The topic of the here presented work is the influence of firms on climate policy. This thesis analyses the impact of firms’ influence on the acceptance of climate policy, its effectiveness, and implementation. Hereby, the mediation of private interest is understood as social barrier on the design and implementation of effective climate policy. The work is empiric, dealing with the features of Swiss and European climate policy in two case studies. The thesis follows an interdisciplinary approach combining theories from economics, business strategy and political sciences. In a mixed‐ methods approach, it analyses the positions of the business community on climate policy, the different channels of interest group influence and the impact on policy output. Thereby, the focus of the analysis is on the positions and interactions between business interest associations and political decision‐makers. The results show that there is a pluralist picture of firms’ positions on climate policy. According to their economic short‐term interests, firms tend to block or defend the detailed features of climate legislation. By contrast, business associations have an incentive to exaggerate their stated positions strategically, which questions the reliability of their positions in the process of political consultation. The analysis shows further that private interest is asymmetrically represented in the political decision‐making process. In Switzerland, a small group of private actors enjoys privileged access to policy‐makers on the expense of public interests. This influence by special interest groups impedes effective policymaking and causes a democracy‐deficit. As a result, interest group influence inhibits effective decision‐making, which reduces societal welfare. Furthermore, a comparative case study on self‐regulation of the European and Swiss automotive industry demonstrates that there is a trade‐off between acceptance and environmental effectiveness in climate policy design. The work concludes that a fair stakeholder dialogue, the dissemination of knowledge, transparency in political decision‐making, and the integration of scientific expertise should be enhanced for ensuring effective implementation of politically acceptable and environmentally effective climate policies and measures.

EPFL2012