Search

This paper investigates the role of individual firms in international business-cycle comovement using data covering the universe of French firm-level value added and international linkages over the period 1993-2007. At the micro level, trade and multinational linkages with a particular foreign country are associated with a significantly higher correlation between a firm and that foreign country. The impact of direct linkages on comovement at the micro level has significant macro implications. Without those linkages the correlation between France and foreign countries would fall by about 0.098, or one-third of the observed average correlation of 0.291 in our sample of partner countries. (JEL F14, F23, F44, F62, L14) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the role of the top 100 firms in France in aggregate business cycle comovement. We establish that the top 100 firms (i) are important in aggregate; (ii) exhibit stronger international linkages than the rest of the economy; and (iii) contribute substantially to aggregate comovement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This study relates to the input and fate of fossil organic matter (FOM) in the modern environment, and focuses on two experimental watersheds overlying Jurassic marls: Le Laval and Le Brusquet (1km2 in area), located near Digne, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, France. Considering that FOM delivery is mainly a result of different processes affecting sedimentary rocks [(bio)chemical and mechanical weathering], samples from different pools were collected: bedrocks, weathering profiles, soils and riverine particles. The samples were examined using complementary techniques: optical (palynofacies methods), geochemical (Rock-Eval 6 pyrolysis, C/N ratio), molecular (gas chromatography/mass spectrometry) and isotopic (stable C isotopic composition). As a result, FOM markers were identified and tracked through the different pools. The results highlight the contribution of FOM, which can be found in all the studied pools. Transfer of FOM between bedrocks/weathering profiles (governed mainly by chemical weathering) and bedrocks/riverine particles (governed mainly by mechanical weathering) reveals any qualitative change. Weathering profiles/soils transition [governed by (bio)chemical weathering] is characterized by alteration of the FOM, which is difficult to describe because fossil material is mixed with recent organic matter (ROM). Despite this latter point, the study provides evidence for a relative resistance of FOM to weathering processes and points to its contribution to the modern geosystem and the C cycle. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Quantification in grams per metres squared per year of the sediment accumulation in a flood plain ('marsh') located in the southwestern Parisian basin showed that there is no close relationship between the accumulation of organic matter (OM) and mineral matter (MM) during the late Holocene, and provided an accurate view of the distinct yield and storage conditions of both sediment components. Endogenic OM accumulation in peaty sediments is not related to the climate but to felling of the alder forest and its substitution by Cyperaceae and paludal taxa in the marsh (Iron Age and Middle Ages). MM accumulation expresses mainly the sediment yield on the slopes, determined by landuse. During an initial phase (from the late Neolithic to the early Middle Ages), land-use change from crop cultivation to pastureland, possibly related to climate deterioration, led to a decrease in the sediment yield. During a second phase, since the early Middle Ages, the considerable development of crop cultivation over pasturing, even during periods of climate deterioration (such as the 'Little Ice Age'), led to a sharp increase in sediment yield. However, although sediment yield was high, the hydrodynamics in the fen did not favour particle retention. Thus, since the Neolithic, yield and storage of OM and MM sediment have been marked by human activities, initially with high climatic stress, but since the Middle Ages without significant climatic stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]