Antonin Pottier

Antonin Pottier is a lecturer at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, a researcher at the International Center for Research for Environment and Development (CIRED, Paris) and at the Marc Bloch Center (CMB, Berlin). His interests include the socio-economic consequences of climate change and its limitation, the history of economic thought and its links with the environment, the role of economic discipline in public decision-making. In "Comment les économistes réchauffent la planète" (Paris : Seuil, 2016), he studied the diagnosis of climate change made by the economic literature and the solutions it proposes. He is currently reflecting on the interactions between social justice, inequality and emission reduction measures.

The Project

The design and implementation of an ambitious ecological transition causes tensions between socioeconomic and environmental objectives. Examining the distributive, often regressive, consequences of transition policies says nothing about the differences in the ability of households to act, as these differences fuel the sense of injustice of the transition. To conceptualize them, the project proposes a notion of "power of action", which integrates the context of individual situations and the "room for maneuver" available to individuals, such as psychological and normative dimensions of acting. The international and interdisciplinary collaboration brought together by the project aims to clarify and assess this notion from considerations of public economy, behavioral economics and practical philosophy, and to clarify its role in designing fair and effective public transition policies.

Selected Publications

• Pottier, Antonin (2022) — Expenditure-elasticity and income-elasticity of GHG emissions: a survey of literature on household carbon footprint, Ecological Economics 192, p.107251.
• Pottier, Antonin (2021) — La carte carbone peut-elle être simple, efficace et juste ? Action publique. Recherche et pratiques 11.
• Pottier, Antonin, Emmanuel Combet, Jean-Michel Cayla, Simona de Lauretis, and Franck Nadaud (2020) — Qui émet du CO2 ? panorama critique des inégalités écologiques en France, Revue de l'OFCE 169, pp. 73–132.
• E. Chiapello, A. Missemer, et A. Pottier (dir.), 2020, Faire l'économie de l'environnement. Paris : Presses de l'École des Mines de Paris.
• Pottier, Antonin (2018, mars) — « Les nouveaux indicateurs de richesse modifieront-ils la croissance ? les limites de la critique du PIB », Le Débat 199, p. 147–156.
• Pottier, Antonin (2018) — « Comment partager l’atmosphère : une introduction à la justice climatique », Revue juridique de l'environnement Numéro spécial : le bon usage de la Terre, p. 143–158.
• Pottier, Antonin (2016) — Comment les économistes réchauffent la planète, Paris : Seuil.
• Pottier, Antonin (2015) — « La nature dans l'analyse économique – perspective historique », in L. Monnoyer-Smith (dir.), Nature et richesses des nations. Paris : Revue du CGDD.
• Pottier, Antonin (2014, juin) — « Comment la poursuite de l'abondance annihile la culture : essai d'interprétation des Perspectives économiques pour nos petits-enfants de J.M. Keynes », Cahiers d'Économie Politique 66, p. 7–33.