2024 Dissertation prize for Law and Economics

The Economics Department of Ecole Polytechnique – Institut Polytechnique de Paris, with the support of the Droit &Croissance think tank, is leading an interdisciplinary research initiative at the crossroads of law, economics andfinance within Ecole polytechnique, with the aim of creating a dedicated chair within the school. The project aims topool the expertise of the Economics Department of Ecole Polytechnique, of the CREST and of Droit & Croissancein order to build a program of research, teaching and dissemination of knowledge at the crossroads of law,economics and finance.

In order to stimulate student interest in this type of research, Ecole Polytechnique and Droit & Croissance arelaunching a dissertation prize this year. This prize is awarded to Master 2 dissertations in Law and/orEconomics of research work carried out by students reading for their Master’s or within two years oftheir graduation, where such work aims to contribute to a better understanding of the economicrationale of law by economic and political players in France.

Awarded by a jury composed of members of Droit & Croissance and Ecole Polytechnique, the prize consists of a €2 000 endowment, publicity of the student’s work, in various forms on Droit & Croissance’s website and onsocial media, and support for potential future PhD work.

Why create a prize for the best dissertation in Law & Economics? The aim is to encourage students tobuild a bridge, as part of their research, between academic research in economics and/or (corporate or market)finance on the one hand, and legal doctrine on the other hand, in order to identify the micro and macroeconomicimpacts of the legal mechanisms currently at play and develop an analytical framework reconciling these fields(legal, economic and financial) for the development of public policies. The aim of interdisciplinary research in thesefields is to study, both theoretically and empirically, the effects of regulatory changes on social welfare using a multi-criteria approach that takes into account economic efficiency, redistributive aspects and environmental and socialimpact. Its purpose is to inform public authorities on the legal means to achieve democratically chosen objectives.This general aim is likely to give rise to numerous dissertation projects on a variety of topics, including the following:

• Securities, banking, financial and insurance regulation:. Securities markets and the financial andinsurance industries are subject to extensive regulation pursuing the triple goal of ensuring economictransparency, efficiency and stability. The main aim of research carried out on this topic is to evaluate theimpact of proposed or enacted rules with regard to these goals, both empirically and theoretically.

• Environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues. This research topic covers all matters pertainingto sustainable finance, corporate social responsibility (CSR), employee shareholding and other compensationmechanisms for employees and management.

• New technologies. This research topic is devoted to the full range of regulatory issues related to crypto-assets and neighbouring blockchain technologies, particularly from the perspective of financial regulation, aswell as issues related to artificial intelligence and the use of data.

The abovementioned research topics are meant to be completed by other topics. For example, work onsectoral regulations (such as those applicable to the electricity market), competition law or economic civil law(contract, property, tort) is welcome.

The D&C scientific committee, composed of international professors and researchers from École Polytechnique willdecide, with the help of Droit & Croissance’s HR team, which dissertation will be awarded the prize.

Good luck to all!