LIDAM Internal Economics Seminar - Silvia Peracchi

10/03/2026 - 12:45 - Doyen 22

Silvia Peracchi

(UCLouvain, LIDAM, IRES)

will give a presentation on 

Violence Next Door: How Conflict Reconfigures Regional Trade and Development

Abstract

Conflicts and civil wars have major economic consequences, both domestically and beyond their borders. This paper examines a key cross-country implication of civil wars, namely their role as external shocks to trade linkages. To do so, it exploits the 2002 civil war in Côte d’Ivoire as a quasi-natural experiment for causal evidence. The conflict temporarily harmed Ivorian markets and limited access to the Port of Abidjan, prompting its landlocked trade partners, Mali and Burkina Faso, to redirect regional and overseas trade flows to other coastal countries in West Africa. We analyze whether coastal countries competing with Côte d’Ivoire benefited from this redirected trade. Treatment is defined as areas in West African coastal countries best connected to international trade routes. Our findings suggest persistently higher economic activity in areas more exposed to international corridors following the exogenous trade shock. These effects are observed in the form of land-cover indicators of human settlement and cropland extent, built-up areas, population, and nighttime lights. Evidence from the Demographic and Health Surveys further point to increases in female employment and human capital. Taken together, these results highlight how conflict-induced trade disruptions can generate significant agglomeration effects and lead to persistent spatial reallocation of economic activity.

With Evie Graus (University of Luxembourg)

LIDAM Economics Seminar - Mario Larch

12/03/2026 - 12:45 - Doyen 22

Mario Larch

(University of Bayreuth)

will give a presentation on 

Inverted Gravity: New Targets, Same Old Models?

Abstract 

Traditional international trade analyses aim at evaluating the effects of policy changes on trade and welfare (e.g., the impact of the 2022 sanctions on Russia), and there are well-established tools (e.g., structural gravity) to perform such analyses. Recently, the need for trade policy intervention has often been motivated by outcome targets (e.g., resilience, strategic autonomy, and balanced trade). However, there are no good tools to quantify/characterize the policies that are needed to achieve the desired outcomes (e.g., what is the tariff change between Russia and China that would offset the impact of the sanctions on Russia in terms of trade and/or welfare). The main contribution of this paper is to propose such tools. A byproduct of our methods is that they also deliver novel indexes of bilateral trade costs that take general equilibrium linkages into account.

LIDAM Economics Seminar - Cevat Aksoy

19/03/2026 - 12:45 - MORE 54

Cevat Aksoy

(EBRD)

will give a presentation on 

The Value of Some Office Time

Abstract

This paper evaluates whether structured in-person contact can improve performance and retention in a fully remote workplace. We study a nine-month randomised controlled trial in the inbound customer service center operations of a multinational telecommunications firm. A sample of 248 fully remote customer-service agents was randomly assigned either to remain fully remote (control) or to attend the office one day per month (treatment), holding pay, schedules, tasks, and performance evaluation constant. The monthly office-day policy increases productivity. Calls per hour rise by about 4.4% on average, driven by roughly 5% shorter call durations, with no evidence of declines in service quality (customer ratings and audit scores) or changes in break time. The intervention also reduces attrition over the experimental horizon, with particularly strong retention effects among higher-performing agents. Evidence on mechanisms points to interaction and learning: treated agents report more frequent managerial feedback and stronger team communication, and randomised seating assignments show that brief co-location generates new peer links and productivity spillovers. Overall, predictable in-person contact can improve productivity and retention in fully remote service work.

LIDAM Internal Economics Seminar - Sandy Tubeuf

24/03/2026 - 12:45 - Doyen 22

Sandy Tubeuf

(UCLouvain, IRSS /IDAM, IRES)

will give a presentation on 

TBA

Abstract

LIDAM Economics Seminar - Sascha Becker

26/03/2026 - 12:45 - Doyens 22

Sascha Becker 

(University of Warwick)

will give a presentation on 

TBA

Abstract