Professor Virgile Chassagnon of Université Grenoble Alpes, one of three nominees for Best Young Economist of France 2020

Appointment Research
On  May 26, 2020
Virgile Chassagnon
Virgile Chassagnon
At the age of 38, Virgile Chassagnon, professor at Université Grenoble Alpes and founding director of the Institut de recherche pour l’économie politique de l'entreprise (Research institute for the political economy of business), is one of three nominees (joint 2nd) for the 2020 edition of Best Young Economist of France. Since the founding of this prestigious award in 2000 by Le Monde and the Circle of Economists, this is the first time a nominee has hailed from Grenoble.
An economist specializing in organizations and institutions (and notably business), Virgile Chassagnon developed "The Theory of the Firm Revisited from a Power Perspective", which he applies to the modern goals of the regulation of capitalism. By studying relationships of power within organizations and between organizations, this theory makes it possible to better understand the complex nature and actual functioning of businesses.

His work has shown that the distribution of power and value has not been an obstacle to economic performance but instead constitutes a basis for wider reflection on the conditions for the emergence of sustainable capitalism, freed from finance, and capable - finally - of reducing inequality in the long term.

His research resulted in various recommendations for economic policies. Some of these findings echo several recent laws (such as the Due Diligence Act and the Pacte Act), which are designed to increase the participation of workers and recognize the social role - on a political scale - played by large-scale businesses.

Virgile Chassagnon was nominated joint second alongside Xavier Jaravel, Assistant Professor at the London School of Economics and associate researcher at the Collège de France, and Eric Monnet, Director of Studies at the School of Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (EHESS) and research affiliate at the Paris School of Economics and the CEPR. The 2020 prize was awarded to Isabelle Méjean, professor at the École Polytechnique.

The Best Young Economist of France award

The Best Young Economist of France prize has been awarded every year since 2000 by Le Monde and the Circle of Economists to a French economist under the age of 41 from the university or grande école domain, in France or abroad, whose work has an applied aspect and enables the stimulation of public debate. This prize is the French equivalent of the John Bates Clark Medal, second only in prestige to the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences. The awards ceremony, which will bring together the laureate and the three nominees, has been postponed until September 2020 due to the current health crisis.
 
Published on  October 7, 2020
Updated on  October 7, 2020