Speakers

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Emmanuelle AURIOL

Toulouse School of Economics Professor - Department of Economics

After completing her doctorate in 1992 at the University of Toulouse I, and postdoctoral studies at the University of Berkeley in California, Emmanuelle Auriol joined the Toulouse School of Economics as a lecturer in 1993. In 1996, she passed the national competitive examination for university aggregation. She then became a professor at the University of Aix-Marseille II. She remained there until 1998, when she was recruited as a professor at the Toulouse School of Economics. Her work, which combines theoretical and empirical approaches, focuses on public economics, industrial economics and development economics. She focuses on market imperfections, whether they originate from the search for rents by actors enjoying market power, or from cognitive biases such as retrograde religious beliefs, discrimination, particularly against women, or negative intrinsic motivations. This work combines the contributions of neoclassical economics with those of behavioral economics. 

During her career, Emmanuelle Auriol has received numerous distinctions and awards for her work, which has been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), American Economic Review, Quarterly Journal of Economics, and Journal of the European Economic Association, among others. She is a CNRS bronze medalist (2003), a member of the Institut Universitaire de France (junior class 2003, senior class 2016) and the Conseil d’Analyse Economique, a fellow of the European Economic Association (EEA), the CEPR, the European Union Development Network (EUDN), and CESifo. She is an editor for various scientific journals and regularly collaborates on research or training contracts with the French Development Agency and the World Bank. Finally, she does not neglect the work of dissemination by participating in conferences, television and radio shows, and by writing regularly in newspapers. She is thus a member of the Cercle des Economistes and the author of two award-winning books "Pour en finir avec les mafias -- sexe, drogue et clandestins : et si on juridiqueisait?" published by Armand Colin as well as "Regulating Public Services: Bridging the Gap between Theory and Practice" with Antonio Estache and Claude Crampes at Cambridge University Press.

Salomé Berlioux 

Social entrepreneur, founder and CEO of the Rura association.

Salomé grew up in Allier, Cher and Nièvre. She passed her baccalaureate in Nevers, then entered hypokhâgne at the Lycée Fénelon in Paris.


Salomé graduated from SciencesPo Paris with a master's degree in Public Affairs, and from the master's degree From the Renaissance to the Enlightenment shared by the École Normale Supérieure and the Sorbonne. As a student, she chaired the Olivaint Conference.

She began her career as a project manager at the Presidency of the Republic, then in strategic communications consulting before joining the office of the Minister of Foreign Affairs as a speech and foresight advisor.


In 2016, Salomé founded the Rura association (formerly Chemins d'avenirs) which fights against territorial fractures by betting on young people from rural areas and small towns. This structure of the Social and Solidarity Economy now has 47 employees and has supported more than 13,000 young people, individually, in building their academic, professional and civic paths.


Salomé is now the CEO of Rura. She is also a corporate speaker and the author of several books, including Les Invisibles de la République (2019, Robert Laffont editions), Nos campagnes suspendus (2020, L'Observatoire editions), La peau des pêches (2021, Stock editions). Collection director at the Aube editions, she has just published a collective book, Loin de Paris. A columnist in the regional daily press, an Ashoka Fellow, Salomé prepares high school and undergraduate students for the competitive examinations at SciencesPo Paris, provincial IEPs and journalism schools.

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Françoise CARLE 

Deputy General Manager in charge of development for the Val d'Oise department

A graduate of ESSEC, Françoise Carle is Deputy Director General in charge of development at the Val d’Oise Departmental Council, after having held positions as an associate consultant and general management in various public contexts.


Fabrice CAVARRETTA

Professor ESSEC - Management départment

PhD from INSEAD and Doctor of Management Sciences from Paris-Dauphine, Fabrice Cavarretta was also a student at Ecole Polytechnique (Eng), Stanford/ENSTA (Ms CS) and Harvard (MBA). He teaches Entrepreneurship and Leadership in MBA and continuing education. His thesis explored the link between organizational factors (team, leader, resources) and performance, focusing in particular on extreme cases (successes and failures). His current research focuses on managerial doctrines, and in particular "lean management", whether in entrepreneurial or intrapreneurial contexts. Fabrice Cavarretta has 12 years of operational management experience, including as division director of a large media/telecom group, and founder of a startup in the field of social networks.

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Title of the presentatio of Fabrice Cavarretta : Where Are We on Making Education Less Absurd?

I examine the evolution of education through the critical lenses of Montessori, Bourdieu, and Robinson, revealing how our educational systems remain trapped in outdated Taylorist paradigms of control, predictability, and industrial utility.

As we transition into a knowledge economy demanding initiative and complex understanding rather than simple processing, these systems have become increasingly absurd and inequitable.

The fundamental issue is that education is not primarily about knowledge transmission or selection but about motivation—a resource asymmetrically distributed across social classes, with privileged groups circumventing institutional limitations.

Interestingly, the emergence of AI presents both challenges and opportunities: while potentially replacing traditional knowledge transfer, it also offers unprecedented possibilities for personalized, gamified learning experiences.

Drawing from organizational theory and ecological perspectives, I propose a paradigm shift toward viewing education as a complex, transformational system rather than a productivist process. This reconceptualization requires educators to examine their own paradigms, emotions, and habits while moving away from control-oriented pedagogies toward approaches that emphasize motivation, creativity, and meaningful engagement.

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Muriel EPSTEIN

Associate professor for Science of Education and Training - CY Cergy Paris Université

Lecturer in education and training sciences at the EMA laboratory (Ecole Mutations Apprentissage) of the CY Cergy University Paris, and associated with the SAMM laboratory (Statistics Analysis and Mathematical Modeling) of the University Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, Muriel Epstein is an associate professor of mathematics, a graduate of ENSAE and a doctor of sociology.

After working on school dropout and spatial segregation, her research focused on innovation as a possible lever for transformations towards a more inclusive school. She is particularly interested in the risks of crystallization linked to digital technology and the possibilities of evolving the role and posture of teachers through collaborative research, particularly international. She also works on questions of methods and the articulation of qualitative and quantitative methods in social science research.

She is currently leading a European research project “ProVEST” for Professionalisation of Teachers and Mentors in Vocational Education to Realise Powerful Transformative Learning Environments for a Sustainable Transition which aims to contribute to a sustainable transition in Europe by identifying what enables the professionalisation of mentoring teams to help vocational high schools foster inclusive and high quality learning environments across Europe.

Christelle FOUCAULT

Diversity Campaigns & External Engagement Director - SANOFI

Christelle Foucault is Diversity External Engagement Director within Corporate Public Affairs at Sanofi. In her role, Christelle co-leads the global initiative, ‘A Million Conversations’, aiming at rebuilding trust in healthcare among the underrepresented. She works with local teams to support national conversations about trust and health inequality with underserved communities and to foster policy recommendations to help improve equity in healthcare.

Christelle was previously working in the cabinet of the French Ministry of gender equality, diversity, inclusion and equal opportunities, leading the 2020-2023 National Plan for Equal Rights, fighting hate and discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community. During her last position Christelle was also responsible for the coordination with other ministries, handling communication and events organization as well as institutional relations. She also has deep experience in the management of strategic projects for leading banking institutions (BPCE Group and BNP Paribas) both in France and in Singapore. Christelle has been engaged in the French LGBT+ community through national and international commitments for more than 10 years. She was also one of the founders of the ERG « All Equals » for LGBT+ people in her previous company.

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Jean-Christophe Margelidon

Deputy Director General of the National Federation of Public Housing Offices

A graduate of the École nationale d'administration (ENA), Jean-Christophe Margelidon is a senior French civil servant. He holds the position of First Counselor of the Administrative Court and the Administrative Court of Appeal on secondment and has served as a rapporteur at the Bordeaux Administrative Court of Appeal, where he handled various cases, including tax disputes and administrative decisions. His expertise in the legal field is recognized through his significant contributions to administrative jurisprudence.

With a career marked by administrative and legal responsibilities, Jean-Christophe Margelidon has successfully combined rigorous academic training with diverse practical experience. His career demonstrates his commitment to public service and administrative justice in France.

He also serves as Deputy Director General of the Federation of Public Housing Offices.

Giordano MION

Professor ESSEC - Department of Economics

Giordano Mion is Professor of Economics at ESSEC Business School, France. Before joining ESSEC Business School in 2022, Giordano Mion was a Professor at the University of Sussex (2015-2022) and the University of Surrey (2013-2015), a Lecturer at the London School of Economics (2009-2013), and a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Université Catholique de Louvain in Belgium (2005-2008) from where he obtained a PhD in Economics in 2004. He has also been a Visiting Researcher at the Paris School of Economics, the University of Toronto, and the University of Bologna. His previous research awards include the Highly Cited Authors Award from the Journal of Urban Economics and the Mundell Prize from the Canadian Journal of Economics. He is currently a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Economic Geography as well as Regional Science and Urban Economics. Giordano Mion is also a Research Fellow at the Centre for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) and the Productivity Institute (TPI). He is also an Associate Fellow at the Centre for Economic Performance (CEP) at the London School of Economics, the Centre for Economic Studies and the Ifo Institute (CESifo), the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) and the Centre for Research on Globalisation and Economic Policy (GEP) at the University of Nottingham. His research and teaching focus on international trade, urban economics and applied econometrics. He has published in international peer-reviewed journals including the Quarterly Journal of Economics, the Journal of Political Economy, the Journal of International Economics, the Journal of Urban Economics, the Economic Journal, the International Economic Review and the Review of Economics and Statistics. He has also conducted a number of studies and consultancies for the UK Trade and Investment Agency, the UK Department for Transport, the UK Business and Investment Agency and the European Central Bank.

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Title of the presentation of Giordano Mion: "Understanding the productivity advantage of cities" 

Agglomeration externalities are the key factor explaining the existence of cities and their size. However, while the various micro foundations of agglomeration externalities stress the importance of Total Factor Productivity (TFP) increasing with city size and density, the empirical evidence on agglomeration externalities rests on measures obtained using firm revenue (as opposed to physical output) as a measure of firm output: revenue-based TFP (TFP-R). This paper uses data on French manufacturing firms' revenue, quantity and prices to estimate TFP and TFP-R and decompose the latter into various elements. Our analysis suggests that the revenue productivity advantage of denser areas is mainly driven by higher prices charged rather than differences in quantity TFP. At the same time, firms in denser areas are able to sell higher quantities, and generate higher revenues, despite higher prices. These and other results we document suggest that firms in denser areas are able to charge higher prices because they sell higher demand/quality products. In this respect, two key elements related to this capacity to sell more at higher prices are the degree of vertical differentiation and trade cost, with products characterized by higher vertical differentiation and/or lower trade costs featuring stronger patterns and driving overall results. 

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Anne-Claire PACHE

Director of Strategy and Social Engagement (ESSEC)

Anne-Claire Pache is a Professor of Social Innovation at ESSEC Business School in Paris, France. She holds the ESSEC Chair in Social Innovation. She graduated from ESSEC Business School (1994), holds a Master of Public Administration (2001) from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and a PhD in Organizational Behavior from INSEAD (2010).

Her research interests lie at the intersection of organizational theory and social innovation, with a particular focus on complex environments, hybrid organizations, and the scaling processes of social enterprises. She has conducted qualitative studies in the fields of social enterprises, corporate philanthropy, and private foundations. She is the author of several books and articles, including in the Academy of Management Review and the Academy of Management Journal, the Journal of Business Ethics, the California Management Review, and Leadership Quarterly. She was Deputy Director General, in charge of academic programs at ESSEC from 2014 to 2017, and is currently Director of Strategy and Community Engagement at ESSEC.

Before embarking on an academic career, Anne-Claire Pache was part of the co-founding team of Unis-Cité, the pioneering youth civic service organization in France. She remains a member of Unis-Cité's board of directors today, as well as a member of an impact investment fund.

Jean-Christophe POULET

Director General of the Energie Jeunes Association

Executive Director of the Energie Jeunes association. A trained specialist teacher, Jean-Christophe Poulet worked in the DITEP (Therapeutic Educational and Pedagogical System) as a teacher and then as a director. Head of the Val d'Oise Est Local Mission since July 2020, he co-created and directed "The Second Chance School in Val d'Oise" from 2009 to 2020. He is also the author of two essays: "The Failure of School Schedule Reform: Mobilizing for a Solidarity and Cooperative Ecological School" and "Mobilizing for Youth, Mobilizing Youth," as well as a novel: "Beautiful Cuckoo." Mayor of Bessancourt (Val d’Oise) since 2001, Jean-Christophe Poulet succeeds, on February 5, Catherine Ozon, general director of Energie Jeunes since January 2021.

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Estefania SANTACREU-VASUT 

Professor ESSEC - Department of Economics

Estefania Santacreu-Vasut holds a PhD in Economics from UC Berkeley. She is a professor of economics at ESSEC Business School and at the THEMA research center (CNRS) and associate dean of pedagogy. Her research studies gender and the role of institutions and has been published in the Journal of Development Economics, Review of Economics of the Household, Journal of International Business Studies, Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, among others. She is a consultant for the OECD, co-founder of the Gender&Finance project and co-author, with Tom Gamble, of the book `The nature of goods and the goods of nature: why anti-globalization is not the answer'.