Introducing BETA
A joint research unit of five organisms (CNRS, the Universities of Strasbourg and Lorraine, INRAE, and AgroParisTech), BETA is located across five sites: in Strasbourg and Nancy, and in Metz, Colmar and Mulhouse.
Since the laboratory’s creation, the research conducted at BETA has been guided by the desire to set out both the theoretical aspects as well as the practical applications of research in economics and management. Historically, the laboratory has been structured around several research groups, anchored in micro and macroeconomic theories and benefitting from the heritage of a long tradition in the history of economic thought.
Its identity is built upon a number of themes: the economics of innovation, the management of technologies and organizations, the evaluation of environmental assets, the study of the training–employment relationship, as well as the history of economics. In parallel with the development of the laboratory and wider changes in society, these themes have subsequently been enriched: the Law and Economics has become prominent, as has the economics of energy, of forests (with, in particular, the creation of an observatory for the economics of forests), and more broadly there has been a strengthening of the laboratory’s economic analysis of the transitions underway in the fields of energy, the environment, and demographics.
These specific tools and methodological approaches, having been progressively developed, today amount to truly collective competences: modelling, cliometrics, econometrics, methods of evaluation and forecasting, etc. Most recently, the laboratory’s practical knowledge in “Lab experiments” has been augmented by dedicated infrastructure: the laboratory for experimental economics in Strasbourg.
The scientific activity is organized around six research groups:
Cliometrics and History of Economic Thought (CHPE)
Creativity, Science, and Innovation (CSI)
The members of BETA work mainly on six societal challenges for sustainable development:
Digital Transition and Technological Change
European construction and governance
Energy and ecological transition and climate change
Industrial hazards, natural disasters, financial and public health threats
Pursuing world-class research in its multiple fields of specialization, BETA is particularly attentive to the training and professional development of its doctoral students. Benefiting from numerous contacts with public organizations and private partners, BETA researchers aim their work not only at the scientific community, but also at decision-makers and citizens.
Deputy Directors: Yamina Tadjeddine, Véronique Schaeffer et Marielle Brunette
