On June 16th the Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS) announced the 46 recipients of the 2025 CNRS Bronze Medals - and every year only one economist receives the distinction. The 2025 Bronze Medal was awarded to the Department’s faculty member Axelle Ferrière !

The CNRS Bronze Medal rewards early work that helps establish a researcher as a specialist in their field. The distinction encourages them to pursue their research which has already proven to be impactful and, in Axelle’s case, her work on tax policy and redistribution which is helping to develop theoretical frameworks in economics, while at the same time providing concrete tools to guide public decision-making.

How can fiscal and budgetary policies be designed to reduce inequality without compromising economic growth? That is the question at the heart of Axelle Ferrière’s research.
Extracts from an interview with Axelle Ferrière, conducted by the CNRS (read original in French).

“My interest in economics stems from the deep desire to better understand how our societies organise themselves to live together… Quite naturally, I became interested in tax policies, redistribution in favour of the poorest households, and more broadly in the welfare state, financed by all the taxes levied on the various players in the economy.”

At the intersection of macroeconomics and public finance, Axelle’s research uses cutting edge quantitative methods, i.e. computational models, to shed light on the redistributive effects of economic policies. “I build economic models that make it possible to accurately evaluate the benefits - in terms of redistribution - and the costs - in terms of distortions of economic behaviour - that are associated with social welfare transfers and the taxes that finance them”. These models are veritable laboratories for testing the impact of policies on a national scale.

She is particularly interested in the differentiated reactions of households to tax reforms, as well as ‘ambiguity aversion’ - the difficulty of making decisions in a context of uncertainty - which can amplify economic crises. “During recessions”, she explains, “it is common to propose an increase in government spending to stimulate economic activity. The ability of this spending to stimulate growth is known as the multiplier effect".

Axelle has shown that this multiplier effect is stronger when the stimulus is financed by more progressive taxation. In the economic history of the United States in particular, stimulus packages financed by more progressive taxes have had a greater impact on growth.

“There are few reforms that benefit the entire population, so the role of the researcher is often to identify the winners and losers associated with a given policy”. 

Congratulations to Axelle, the third faculty member, after Thierry Mayer and Jeanne Hagenbach, to receive such a distinction !
 

Axelle joined the Department in 2024 as Associate Professor of Economics and CNRS Research Fellow. Prior to that she was a Chaired Professor and CNRS Research Fellow at the Paris School of Economics (PSE) and she was an Assistant Professor at the European University Institute (EUI). She is also a Research Affiliate at the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR). 
She holds a PhD in Economics from New York University's Stern School of Business, a Master in Economic Analysis and Policy from PSE and a Master in Quantitative Economics and Finance from École Polytechnique (X).