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The use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in Africa has increased considerably over the past two decades, and has been the subject of an extremely fruitful literature. The ICT penetration rate has been accelerated by education and especially the improvement of energy supply. In this article, we examine their effect on the urbanization rate observed from a sample of 52 African countries. To do this, we specify and estimate a panel data model with the methods of ordinary least squares (OLS) and generalized least squares (GLS) over the period 1991-2017. The theory of urban sprawl is highlighted to assess the determinants of the rate of urbanization in Africa. The robustness of the results is assessed with the method of generalized moments in the system (GMM-S). Our results show that the use of ICT, measured by the penetration of mobile phones, landlines and the Internet, significantly increases the rate of urbanization in Africa. Their effect is amplified by financial development, education level and energy consumption. Also, we appreciate the effects of ICT on urbanization by referring to different African regions. Even if in all regions these effects are positive and significant, southern Africa is the most dynamic. We also highlight the scale effects of ICTs on urbanization in Africa. The effects of scale are captured by the density of populations considering the most urbanized cities in Africa. We find that scale effects, associated with ICT indicators, accelerate urbanization. Two main policy recommendations emerge from the results. First, we suggest a quantitative and qualitative strengthening of investments in telecommunication infrastructure for better urbanization in Africa. Second, we suggest strengthening education systems, increasing investments in the energy sector and a real policy for financing private companies through the local banking system.

Since 2010 France has strengthened intercommunal cooperation through the creation of metropolises. The new metropolises prolong the development of intercommunality in France by creating groupings with strengthened competences and on broader territories. The present article analyses this change of scale on the basis of the example of the Métropole Aix Marseille Provence (AMP), which covers almost the entire department of the Bouches-du-Rhône and federates 1.8 million inhabitants and 92 communes some of which were old rivals. Its studies the conditions for the development of a shared project on the scale of these new urban complexes based on the construction of Aix Marseille Provence metropolitan development plan. The integration of all the issues and competences into a super intercommunality could lead to an impasse in the case of polycentric urban areas in which the multiplication of institutional arrangements comes to affect the capacity to carry public policies. The lack of political leadership does not allow us to respond to the growing number of arbitrations expected in planning documents. The metropolis is a politically weak institution that has to fight against the injunctions of the State and at the same time emancipate itself from the municipalities that are part of it. While some of the literature has often shown the weight of economic elites and elected officials at these new scales, in this case, the confiscation of power is not where one believes.

This article is the first quantitative and exhaustive analysis of social segregation in French universities. Over the period 2006-2016, we calculate the Normalized Exposure index of very advantaged and disadvantaged students for each French académies and levels of education (one-year degree, two-year degree, Bachelor and Master). At the national level, values of Normalized Exposure index reveal the existence of social segregation in French universities, although at lower levels than those highlighted by other articles on secondary education. The geographical analysis of segregation shows that the levels of segregation are not systematically higher in the Île-de-France's académies or in those linked to a large agglomeration as it is the case for secondary school: the overall level of segregation depends little on the size of the académie. However, the level of social segregation proper to advantaged students is positively related to the share of students that come from other académies. Eventually, we study the levels of segregation by education level: there is a decrease in segregation between the one-year and two-year tertiary degrees, as well as between Bachelor and Master degrees at the national level. However, this overall trend does not seem to be carried by all académies, but only by a limited number. In addition, there is an important variability of segregation across education levels as far as one académie can be characterized by low level of segregation for certain education levels and important ones for others.

Most discrimination tests are conducted on a regional or national scale. However, local labor market situations are very different from one city to another, in terms of the socio-demographic composition of job seekers, the structure of the productive fabric and the degree of local tension between labor supply and demand. This study exploits the first labor market discrimination test conducted on the scale of all firms in a thin territory in northern France: the Avesnois, which corresponds to an administrative district of 230,000 inhabitants. We use the results of a matching test conducted on a sample of nearly 1,000 firms, drawn at random from a set of 9,000 legal units. At the beginning of October 2020, we sent 2,000 unsolicited applications to these employers, making it possible to measure discrimination on the basis of presumed North African origin and residence in a priority district (with a high poverty rate), for both men and women.The results are original and unexpected. In this territory and in the exceptional context of a strong economic depression, between the two confinements imposed in reaction to the health crisis, we do not detect discrimination according to origin at the usual thresholds of statistical significance, but we do detect a stigma effect associated with a place of residence in a priority district of the city policy. This residential discrimination effect exists only for men and reduces their chances of getting a job interview by 65%. The difference in response rate between a woman residing in a City policy Priority District (CPD) and a woman residing in a neutral neighbourhood is not significant. The penalty induced by the place of residence is therefore gender sensitive.

The small farm sector in France has been rapidly changing in the last decade. Case studies and statistical work indicate that a fringe of small farms are developing a business model radically different from conventional agriculture, based on more sustainable production systems and mobilizing innovative ways to create value added at farm level. Can this type of farm foreshadow a new model of agriculture, both economically viable and environmentally sustainable? Should it be better supported by agricultural policies? To respond to these questions, this article compares the economic and environmental performance of small French farms relatively to the performance of medium and large farms. Our analysis is based on 2018 data from the Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) and we use the small farm definition provided by the French farm union “Confédération Paysanne”, which defends small-scale peasantry agriculture. Our results show that 55% of small farms display greater environmental performance than the median environmental performance of the overall farm sector. Our central finding is that 13 % of small farms are both more environmentally and economically performant, in comparison to all farms. These environmentally and economically farms are run by younger farmers, mostly women. They are mostly organic and generate sufficient income per worker to ensure their short-term economic viability. However, subsidies from the Common agricultural policy (CAP) remain indispensable. A rebalancing of the allocation of CAP support, according to the number of workers, could help to ensure their long-term viability and would contribute to a performant small-holding innovative model of agriculture.

The public-private partnership is a mean of management which could offer advantages compared to the traditional embodiments of infrastructure projects. This article examines the acceptability and social support of this mode of public infrastructure management. This objective will be complemented by a quantitative approach which seeks to find out whether there is a causal link between public-private partnerships in port infrastructure and port activity. The port of Tripoli has been the subject of several partnership projects to develop the necessary infrastructure, to expand its area, and to significantly increase its income. Despite the many advantages offered by the public-private partnership, the latter nevertheless presents many challenges. Besides, it is important to examine the institutional context for the execution of such projects. The methodology combines a qualitative approach of a questionnaire with 152 respondents, and quantitative data analysis. The qualitative approach argues that public-private infrastructure partnerships (PPP) in the port of Tripoli have positive effects on the macroeconomic level and make it possible to reconcile the interests of the different stakeholders. The quantitative analysis proves, with an econometric approach, that there is at least one co-integration model between investment in infrastructure and increased port activity. In accordance with the expected benefits of the PPP in Lebanon, our double qualitative and quantitative study confirms the positive interrelation between PPP infrastructure projects and the increase in port activity. In future research, it would be interesting to develop a governance model of the port sector in Lebanon, aligning the objectives of the different ports in Lebanon. Infrastructure development should be a national priority, given its potential positive effect on the Lebanese economy.