Design of public policies encouraging low-carbon mobility and understanding of new travel behaviors: what data for what uses?

The environmental impact of the public policies implemented so far in the field of transport remains mixed, with GHG emissions from this sector still representing 30% of national emissions. In addition, some of these policies are the subject of strong mistrust on the part of citizens (e.g. the movement of yellow vests). Faced with this double observation, it is necessary to rethink the tools of public policies in the transportation sector. There cannot be an “efficient” energy and ecological transition without a real consideration of behaviors. The final objective of this PhD is to contribute to the emergence of public policies leading to low-carbon mobility that does not crystallize opposition.
There are currently three main sources of mobility data: i) so-called travel surveys (carried out at national or regional level) asking people directly about the trips they have made; ii) experiments dedicated to a given issue from methods developed in experimental economics widely used in transport economics and iii) big data from GPS mobility assistance applications. The scientific objective of this PhD is to apply to these different data sources a clearly defined theoretical and methodological corpus – behavioral economics and discrete choice models, respectively – to better understand i) the different travel behaviors, ii) their motivations and iii) participate in the determination of public measures promoting their evolution towards low-carbon mobility.
This PhD will therefore contribute to the fields of transportation economics and behavioral economics through the analysis of three different case studies; one per type of data. Each case study will lead to one or more original articles attesting to the real expertise that the doctoral student will have acquired in these two fields. 

Keywords: Behavioral economics, Economics of transport and the environment, Evaluation of public policies.

• Academic supervisor    Pr, DENANT-BOËMONT Laurent, Chercheur au Centre de Recherche en Economie & Management (CREM-UMR 6211), Université de Rennes 1.
• Doctoral School    Ecole Doctorale numéro 597 : Sciences Économiques et Sciences De Gestion (EDGE), Université de Rennes 1. https://ed-edge.doctorat-bretagne.fr/presentation-de-lecole-doctorale-edge
• IFPEN supervisor    Dr, CHÈZE Benoît, Département Economie et Evaluation Environnementale, benoit.cheze@ifpen.fr
• PhD location    IFP Energies nouvelles, Rueil-Malmaison, France
• Duration and start date    3 years, starting in fourth quarter 2023
• Employer    IFP Energies nouvelles, Rueil-Malmaison, France
• Academic requirements    University Master degree in MIASHS ; Mathématiques appliquées, statistique
• Language requirements    Fluency in French and English.
• Other requirements    Microeconometrics (qualitative variables, panel, discrete choice models, etc.).