The purpose of FEMAT is to conduct a philosophical study of both new and ‘old’ materialist feminisms, examining their contributions to contemporary debates. Despite the convergences between these currents, the dialogue between Materialist Feminism (MF) and New Materialist Feminism (NFM) has not yet been fully explored. FEMAT argues that a comparative analysis of MF and NMF can chart new paths for feminist theory. One of FEMAT's main insights is to illuminate the role and significance of a highly controversial form of materiality: biological materiality, which has become a watershed in contemporary feminist debates. This project aims to develop a critical materialist feminist approach to the category of 'sex,' treating biological materiality as one form among many, rather than as the sole determinant. In doing so, FEMAT seeks to address two significant challenges in feminist theories: linguistic or discursive reductionism, which impedes the analysis of the economic and material dimensions of sexist violence, and the essentialism or ontologization of sexual difference, which tends to re-naturalize the category of sex. The implications of these debates extend beyond philosophy and directly impact pressing social issues. The re-naturalization of sex has had a regressive effect on various human rights issues, notably including the increasing refusal to recognize trans identities, not only among conservative sectors but also within feminist circles. By developing a materialist epistemological framework, FEMAT aims to create critical categories and arguments that can enhance public policies from a more inclusive and democratic human rights perspective, emphasizing the interrelation between theory and practice.

The use of shale gas releases less CO2 emissions than most fuels, among which coal. On this basis, an increasing number of top CO2 emitting countries that are endowed with large shale gas deposits plan to achieve energy transition by promoting the shale gas resource. Shale gas extraction can also entail large macroeconomic gains. But first, fracking to extract shale gas is considered dangerous and environmentally damaging (contamination of surface and groundwater, seismic vibrations, landscape concerns). And second, it is argued that what should be done in the face of global warming is to reduce drastically the use of fossil fuels, not to find new ones, which will have the effect of postponing the transition to clean renewable energy. The deep contrast between the positions held by different countries on the shale gas extraction is stunning and comes in part from a lack of scientific knowledge. In particular, there is a lack of economic research on the role of shale gas in a low carbon economy, taking into account the macroeconomic effects, the local environmental impacts and the climate impacts of its extraction. The project addresses three general questions. (1) In the short run is shale gas a useful tool to reduce CO2 emissions in a globalized world? Can substitution of coal by shale gas in some regions contribute to increase/decrease world emissions? (2) In the long run what are the implications of shale gas extraction on energy transition to a low carbon economy? Is shale gas a transition fuel until renewables become less expensive, or, in the context of reduced public investment, will it deter renewables development? (3) What are the economic gains and the environmental damages that can be expected from shale gas extraction? And how do they compare? These questions are interconnected and few answers already exist. Thus, our project intends to contribute significantly by providing answers to these questions. The economics of shale gas development is at the interplay between the topics of macroeconomic growth, climate change, the growing scarcity of natural resources, the role of industrial policy in directing economic activity toward different sectors (for instance clean technologies or shale gas industry) and the design of new types of international climate agreements. The originality of the research project is that it aims at incorporating all these different aspects of the problem and to provide policy recommendations on possible national or international regulatory framework. We intend to infer from the observation some stylized facts and develop theoretical models to explain in depth these facts, and to run simulated models and draw policy recommendations. The project will thus combine theoretical research with empirical analysis on quantitative data. Our approach is mainly economics but we will build on geologists and environmental scientists work. The team includes highly skilled environmental economists, with deep expertise on resource economics, public economics, macroeconomics, panel data and hedonic pricing methods. The ANR support will offer the coordinator the opportunity and means to develop a new research topic, to coordinate a new research team, and to gain autonomy.

This project INDURA aims at putting together research programs which look at inequalities as a structural phenomenon, i.e. as the manifestation of a persistent social order. This order is in particular effectuated through stable forms of mobility (social, spatial, economic). It is how the present project departs from some contemporary works which are mainly focused on the short-term causes of recent inequality upturns, and is developed along both a historical and a comparative perspective. This perspective is compatible with methodological pluralism: microeconometrics of agents behavior and of the impact of exogenous policies or shocks, long-term macroeconomics, typology of institutional configurations, macrosociological analyses. The proposed works also share a second starting point: inequalities do not only stem from individual differences but also from the action of social protection and redistribution systems that must be taken into account. Inequality is long-lasting because of it is determined and shaped by historical institutions, whether local, national, and, perhaps more and more, international. We distinguished three main tasks within this project: Task 1: To look at inequalities in the long-run, we start from a historical approach centered on the case of 19th and 20th centuries France. One of the main strengths of this project is to delve into this question by using individual data stemming from a homogenous and stable source: wills recorded by the administration of "Enregistrement". Many important aspects of the long-term dynamics of inequalities can be considered: the influence of changing economic growth regimes, the rural-urban decomposition along the industrialization process, the underlying evolution of mobility patterns, whether occupational, economic or spatial (with potential cumulative effects), and last the role of inheritance in inequalities persistence from one generation to another. Task 2: We also aim at identifying the structural transformations which may durably affect the formation of inequalities in France. To reach this aim, we put forward the central roles played by changes on both labor and financial markets. We study the sources of uncertainties on these markets by specifically looking at the conditions of the access to labor markets, from the end of school to retirement, and at capital accumulation trajectories. Both phenomena cumulate at the moment of retirement, with more occupational trajectories that have become more heterogeneous than before on the one hand, and very different patrimonial trajectories on the other hand. Task 3: Inequalities are more and more having an international dimension due to trade and finance globalization on one hand, to international migrations and new communication technologies on the other hand. We analyze the effect of the confrontation of different social systems in an international playing field whose institutional structuring is underway. We thus attempt to consider inequalities not only in the historical long-term but also at the global scale. We propose a political economy of inequalities that could account for the growing differentiation of social protection and redistribution systems in Europe. Lastly, we propose a new analysis of persistent structures of inequality in Sub-Saharan Africa, a continent that is not only the poorest but also the most unequal. The project INDURA makes a major development path in the scientific project of Paris School of Economics.