Inspired by the American Economic Association’s John Bates Clark Medal, Le Monde, French daily, and the Cercle des économistes, created the prize in 2000, with a twofold objective: to highlight the work of France’s best young economists (under 41) who have contributed significantly to economic thought and knowledge and to make better known the multiple facets of economic science.

Clément de CHAISEMARTIN is one of three economists, in addition to the laureate, selected by the jury for their work related to applied economics and promoting public debate.

Specialized in economics of education and health economics, and more generally in the field of public policy evaluation, Clément de Chaisemartin is an internationally renowned econometrician. He was nominated for his research which develops new, more robust and transparent public policy evaluation tools, notably natural (or randomized) experiments first pioneered by 2021 Nobel Laureate David Card. Using a comparison between two places, one implementing a policy, e.g. an increase in the minimum wage, while the other does not, fixed effects regression then makes it possible to measure the effect of the policy. The underlying assumption is that, in its absence, the variable affected by the policy (e.g. the employment rate) would have evolved in the same way in both places. However, as Clément de CHAISEMARTIN underscores, most natural experiments are more complex: multiple places set the policy in motion, at different times and with different intensities making it difficult, even impossible, to measure the effect of the policy. With his co-author Xavier d'Haultefoeille, he proposes a new evaluation method building on David Card's original idea.

Before joining our permanent faculty as Professor of Economics this Fall, Clément de CHAISEMARTIN was Associate Professor at the University of California Santa Barbara. He is also a researcher affiliated with NBER, J-PAL and the Institute of Public Policy (PPI). He also contributed to the evaluation of boarding schools of excellence, and to the evaluation of the Parler Bambin Programme, two educational policies aimed at promoting the educational success of children from disadvantaged families. In addition to his numerous academic publications (Journal of Labor Economics; The American Economic Review; Econometrica; The Stata Journal; The Review of Economic Studies; American Economic Journal: Applied Economics; Health Economics), he contributes to the evaluation of IPP public policies.

With the nomination of Clément de Chaisemartin as « Meilleur Jeune Économiste » the Department's permanent faculty members have been distinguished by the Cercle des économistes 11 times – six faculty members are laureates of the prize (in 2020, Isabelle Mejean was the latest to win it) and another five have been nominated for it. 

Congratulations de Clément DE CHAISEMARTIN !

More about Clément DE CHAISEMARTIN and his research

Read Le Monde interview with Clément de Chaisemartin (May 23rd, 2022, in French)
Read more about the Cercle des économistes: Prix du Meilleur Jeune Économiste