Books & ideas

The value of land

Jacques Thisse — 2024-07-04T09:27:05Z

Developed land is a major but neglected share of property holdings. In a new book, Alain Trannoy and Etienne Wasmer analyze this form of property, identifying its causes in ways that will generate discussion about its distribution—and possible taxation.

Classes without wealth

Nicolas Duvoux & Senmiao Yang — 2022-09-14T07:43:39Z

As inflation takes its toll on household budgets, asset reserves will make all the difference. How will those who do not possess them manage? There is an urgent need to address the measure of this structural inequality across social classes and age groups.

Women work, Men accumulate…

Christian Baudelot — 2021-09-08T08:00:00Z

Through an ethnographic investigation allowing them to go behind the scenes of notaries public's offices and law firms, two sociologists show the origins of profound gender inequalities in the distribution of family assets.

Notre-Dame: Heritage Emotions

Nicolas Delalande — 2019-05-02T06:00:00Z

Flames, disbelief, dread. A cathedral burns and tears flow. But why does our architectural heritage and its disappearance move us so greatly? The sociologist Nathalie Heinich offers some answers.

The Recovered Memory of Stolen Works of Art

Cristelle Terroni — 2016-02-22T08:00:00Z

Works of art, prime objects of desire at the best of times, are intimately connected to the history of wars, annexations and conquests. In this history, Bénédicte Savoy discusses the transnational history of spoliations or “patrimonial translocations”, and the long-lasting memory of such traumatic events. “

Power to the Piketties!

2015-02-17T13:05:38Z

While confessing her admiration for Thomas Piketty, American economist Nancy Folbre has three objections to his theories. What is the impact of labor inequalities on class conflicts? What part do gender-based differences play? And lastly, aren't economic inequalities between nations even more problematic than those between individuals?

How Paris Became a Museum

Laure Bordonaba — 2013-01-24T08:00:00Z

In L'invention du vieux Paris (“The Invention of Old Paris”) Ruth Fiori chronicles the rise of preservation societies in 19^th century Paris that led to the patrimonialization of the capital. What does it mean to “preserve” a monument? The author highlights the ideological differences that spurred the construction of a patrimonial perspective which we inherit today.

Tax Havens: A Guided Tour

Thomas Vendryes — 2012-01-24T09:37:57Z

What sums of money are hidden in tax havens? By whom? And how? Using original methodology and data that has not yet been fully utilized, Gabriel Zucman sheds new light on these questions, in the hope that it might boost the fight against tax havens.