Yann ALGAN

Professor

Economics and Decision Sciences

algan@hec.fr http://www.yann-algan.com/
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Biography

Yann Algan is the Dean of Pre-experience Programs and Professor of Economics at HEC.  His main contributions focus on the role of trust and well-being within organizations and societies, with seminal papers showing the causal impact of trust on economic growth, institutions, populism, and management and organizations. He also focuses on the evaluation of public policy with particular attention to the role of education, management, and employment policies.  His work incorporates methods from economics, management, social sciences, psychology, and big data. His work has been published in various top 5 (American Economic Review, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Journal of Political economy), generalist inter-disciplinary reviews (PNAS, Lancet, Organization science…) and, as one of the main specialist of his field, in different handbooks. In 2010 he was awarded an ERC Starting Grant for his project “Trust”. In 2015, he received a second ERC grant, a consolidator one, for the project “Sowell” on Social Preferences, Well-Being, and Policy”. He was the former Dean and founder of the School of Public Affairs at Sciences Po

 

He is a member of the OECD High Level Expert Group on Well-Being, and is affiliated with CEPR and IZA.  His awards include the Best French Young Economist (2009), and his books on trust and French society have been awarded Best French Economics Book and French Essay (2009) and Best French Economics Book, Prix Lycéen (2013). He is one of the main contributor of the international project for a new curriculum in economy (CORE) and senior editor of the review Economic Policy. He is a senior editor of the review Economic Policy, and a member of the Economic Advisory Board for the Prime Minister

Scientific articles

The Social Effects of Ethnic Diversity at the Local Level: A Natural Experiment with Exogenous Residential Allocation

Journal of Political Economy, June 2016, vol. 124, n° 3, pp 696-733, (in coll. with C. Hémet, D. D. Laitin)

Trust and the Welfare State: The Twin Peaks Curve

Economic Journal, June 2016, vol. 126, n° 593, pp 861-883, (in coll. with P. CAHUC, M. Sangnier)

Family values and the Regulation of Labor

Journal of the European Economic Association, August 2015, vol. 13, n° 4, pp 599-630, (in coll. with A. Alesina, P. CAHUC, P. Giuliano)

The Superiority of Economists

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Winter 2015, vol. 29, n° 1, pp 89-114, (in coll. with M. Fourcade, E. Ollion)

Teaching Practices and Social Capital

American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, July 2013, vol. 5, n° 3, pp 189-210, (in coll. with P. Cahuc, A. Shleifer)

Civil Society and the State: The Interplay between Cooperation and Minimum Wage Regulation

Journal of the European Economic Association, February 2011, vol. 9, n° 1, pp 3-42, (in coll. with P. Aghion, P. Cahuc)

Incomplete markets and the output–inflation tradeoff

Economic Theory, January 2011, vol. 46, n° 1, pp 55-84, (in coll. with E. Challe, X. Ragot)

Regulation and Distrust

Quarterly Journal of Economics, August 2010, vol. 125, n° 3, pp 1015-1049, (in coll. with P. Aghion, P. Cahuc, A. Shleifer)

Inherited Trust and Growth

American Economic Review, 2010, vol. 100, n° 5, pp 2060-2092, (in coll. with P. Cahuc)

The Economic Situation of First and Second‐Generation Immigrants in France, Germany and the United Kingdom

Economic Journal, February 2010, vol. 120, n° 542, pp F4-F30, (in coll. with C. Dustmann, A. Glitz, A. Manning)

Books

Chapters in edited books

Working papers

Scientific articles

Elimination versus mitigation of SARS-CoV-2 in the presence of effective vaccines

The Lancet Global Health, January 2022, vol. 10, n° 1, pp E142-E147, (in coll. with M. Oliu-Barton, B. S. R. Pradelski, M. G. Baker, A. Binagwaho, G. J. Dore, A. El-Mohandes, A. Fontanet, A. Peichl, V. Priesemann, G. B. Wolff, G. Yamey, J. V. Lazarus)

Long-term economic and social outcomes of youth suicide attempts

The British Journal of Psychiatry, February 2022, vol. 220, n° 2, pp 79-85, (in coll. with M. Orri, F. Vergunst, G. Turecki, C. Galera, E. Latimer, S. Bouchard, P. Domond, F. Vitaro, R. E. Tremblay, M.-C. Geoffroy, S. M. Côté)

Simple questionnaires outperform behavioral tasks to measure socio-emotional skills in students

Scientific Reports, 2022, vol. 12, n° 442, pp 1-11, (in coll. with M. BOON-FALLEUR, A. BOUGUEN, A. CHARPENTIER, E. HUILLERY, C. CHEVALLIER)

The Economic Incentives of Cultural Transmission: Spatial Evidence from Naming Patterns Across France

Economic Journal, February 2022, vol. 132, n° 642, pp 437-470, (in coll. with C. Malgouyres, T. Mayer, M. Thoenig)

Books

Chapters in edited books

Working papers

Education

  • Post-doctorat, Economics, Université de Californie à San Diego_UCSD - USA
  • Doctorate, Economy, Université Paris I Panthéon Sorbonne - France

Academic appointments

Academic Responsibilities at HEC

  • 2025- HEC Institutes Director HEC Paris
  • 2021-2025 Associate Dean for pre-experience programs HEC Paris
  • 2021- Professor, Economics and Decision Science HEC Paris
  • 2021- Member of GREGHEC, the joint research laboratory CNRS-HEC Paris, GREGHEC HEC Paris

Scientific Activities

Membership in Academic or Professional Organisation

  • Well-being OECD High Level Expert Group member (HLEG)
  • Member of the Institut Universitaire de France
  • Co-director of the CEPREMAP (Centre pour la Recherche Economique et ses Applications) well-being observatory

Awards & honors

  • 2023 2023 1st HEC Faculty Impact Award