With Esther Duflo, Nobel Prize winner in economics

The interview

COP 29 will take place from November 11 to 29 in Baku, Azerbaijan. This edition will take place without the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Papua New Guinea Justin Tkatchenko. The minister announced he was boycotting this conference, which he considered to be “a complete waste of time“. “All the big polluters in the world are pledging millions of dollars to help fight climate change. (…) We are the third largest forest nation in the world. We suck the pollutants out of these big countries. And they get away with it cheaply“, he adds.

The poorest countries are also those that suffer the most from global warming. Who should pay to help them? To talk about it this Saturday, the Franco-American economist, President of the Paris School of Economics, professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and 2019 Nobel Prize winner in economics Esther Duflo is the guest of Alexandra Bensaid. The specialist in anti-poverty policies will also answer the big questions on the issues at stake in the American vote this Tuesday, November 5 to elect the 47th President of the United States. Inflation, immigration, globalization, gender… Which will be decisive at the polls?

The debate

The debt is soaring and the deficit is widening. A government savings plan of 1.2 billion euros should be introduced by amendments to the 2025 Finance Bill this Tuesday in the National Assembly. Several savings options from the French administration are already circulating to bring the public deficit below the European limit of 3%. Commissioned by the resigning government and made public in recent days, these savings proposals concern learning aid, the elimination of funding for the Universal National Service or the creation of a second day of solidarity, after that established in 2004 by the government of Jean-Pierre Raffarin.

As for it, the increase in waiting days in the public service, proposed by the government, has already been voted by the Senate during previous budgets. But at the time, the use of government 49.3 systematically overcame senatorial amendments.

Work more to finance better? Should we give up an additional public holiday? Is the sick leave compensation scheme for civil servants too generous? The good and bad paths are being studied and debated today with Eric Heyerdirector of the Analysis and Forecasts department of the OFCE, and Xavier Jaravelprofessor at the London School of Economics and member of the Economic Analysis Council.

The report

Final sprint before this Tuesday, voting day in the United States. Final speeches, final responses for Kamala Harris and Donald Trump who are engaged in a virulent and tight chase to tip the seven key states. Depending on the American vote, a small societal revolution could occur: that of family leavesfamily leave – a gender-neutral formula which is translated here as maternity and paternity leave.

Three out of four employees do not benefit from any paid maternity leave in the USA. And one in four women return to work within two weeks of giving birth. This is the result of the absence of law at the federal level, which does not regulate paid leave, nor those linked to births in particular. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) black women are five times more likely to have an abortion than white women, and Hispanic women are twice as likely.

Direction across the Atlantic with our reporter Hélène Chevalliera few days before a perhaps major election for these maternity leave policies, which concern companies as much as their employees.

Eco in original version

« The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the government will implement several decisions aimed at developing domestic consumption, increasing support for businesses, promoting the real estate market and stabilizing the capital market. » said Zheng Shanjie, one of the officials of the National Development and Reform Commission. The Chinese economy has struggled to recover since the Covid crisis, and the government's recovery plan should be announced next week.

Xi Jinping's call for a recovery in his country's growth led to a support plan from the Chinese Central Bank which notably lowered its key rates at the end of September. But the measures taken so far remain insufficient to save China, victim of rising youth unemployment, a real estate crisis, weak household consumption in favor of savings and trade disputes with United States and the European Union.

This Monday, November 4, the new session of the Chinese Parliament begins. Will Xi Jinping succeed in reviving household consumption? We take the temperature of the future Chinese recovery plan from Beijing with Sébastien Berriotpermanent special envoy of France Inter.

My life at work

This Saturday, Sandrine Foulon answers a listener question.

Thierry lives in Colmar and, at 61, he would like not to wait another year to work less. Gradual retirement at 60 for everyone: do unions have a chance of obtaining it?