Serge-Christophe Kolm is a French public economist, econometrician

Econometrics

Econometrics has been defined as "the application of mathematics and statistical methods to economic data" and described as the branch of economics "that aims to give empirical content to economic relations." More precisely, it is "the quantitative analysis of actual economic phenomena based on...

, and political philosopher. He has written on economic inequality

Economic inequality

Economic inequality comprises all disparities in the distribution of economic assets and income. The term typically refers to inequality among individuals and groups within a society, but can also refer to inequality among countries. The issue of economic inequality is related to the ideas of...

 and justice, public and welfare economics

Welfare economics

Welfare economics is a branch of economics that uses microeconomic techniques to evaluate economic well-being, especially relative to competitive general equilibrium within an economy as to economic efficiency and the resulting income distribution associated with it...

, and on Buddhist economics

Buddhist economics

Buddhist Economics is a spiritual approach to Economics. It examines the psychology of the human mind and the anxiety,aspirations and emotions that direct economic activity. Its understanding aims to clear the confusion between what is truly harmful and beneficial in Economics and ultimately tries...

.

Public and welfare economics

His publications focus on social justice

Social justice

Social justice generally refers to the idea of creating a society or institution that is based on the principles of equality and solidarity, that understands and values human rights, and that recognizes the dignity of every human being. The term and modern concept of "social justice" was coined by...

 and economic development. In econometrics, the Theil index

Theil index

The Theil index is a statistic used to measure economic inequality. It has also been used to measure the lack of racial diversity. The basic Theil index TT is the same as redundancy in information theory which is the maximum possible entropy of the data minus the observed entropy. It is a special...

 is member of the class of the Kolm indices of inequality

Inequality

In mathematics, an inequality is a statement how the relative size or order of two objects, or about whether they are the same or not .*The notation a b means that a is greater than b....

, which use entropy

Entropy

Entropy is a thermodynamic property that can be used to determine the energy available for useful work in a thermodynamic process, such as in energy conversion devices, engines, or machines. Such devices can only be driven by convertible energy, and have a theoretical maximum efficiency when...

-based statistical divergences.

Socialist failures

Kolm has discussed the difficulties of that democratic socialist movements have had in trying to reduce economic inequalities. In the 1970s, Kolm wrote that that all attempts quickly to create radically more egalitarian societies had failed, because each such attempt had created an "impossible society", which led to inflation and economic disorder. Every such attempt had failed, and been defeated either by "ballots or bullets": The failure to achieve greater equality and the creation of economic disorder (e.g. hyperinflation

Hyperinflation

In economics, hyperinflation is inflation that is very high or out of control. While the real values of the specific economic items generally stay the same in terms of relatively stable foreign currencies, in hyperinflationary conditions the general price level within a specific economy increases...

) reduces popular support, causing socialists to lose the next election ("ballots"), if the military does not remove the government first ("coup"). He also suggested economic policies to be more effective in averting future socialist failures.

Political philosphy

In political philosophy

Political philosophy

Political philosophy is the study of such topics as liberty, justice, property, rights, law, and the enforcement of a legal code by authority: what they are, why they are needed, what, if anything, makes a government legitimate, what rights and freedoms it should protect and why, what form it...

, Kolm has written about liberalism

Liberalism

Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...

 and socialism

Socialism

Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...

, using social contract

Social contract

The social contract is an intellectual device intended to explain the appropriate relationship between individuals and their governments. Social contract arguments assert that individuals unite into political societies by a process of mutual consent, agreeing to abide by common rules and accept...

 theory and emphasizing the concept of envy

Envy

Envy is best defined as a resentful emotion that "occurs when a person lacks another's superior quality, achievement, or possession and either desires it or wishes that the other lacked it."...

.

Buddhism

Kolm also published about Buddhism

Buddhism

Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...

 and its relevance to the modern world and to European civilization. In Le Bonheur Liberté, Bouddhisme profond et Modernité (1982, chapter 22) and other writings, he discusses Buddhist economics

Buddhist economics

Buddhist Economics is a spiritual approach to Economics. It examines the psychology of the human mind and the anxiety,aspirations and emotions that direct economic activity. Its understanding aims to clear the confusion between what is truly harmful and beneficial in Economics and ultimately tries...

.

Career

Kolm graduated from the École nationale des ponts et chaussées

École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées

Founded in 1747, the École nationale des ponts et chaussées , often referred to as les Ponts, is the world's oldest civil engineering school...

 and holds a doctorate from the Université de Fribourg. He headed an institute of the École des hautes études en sciences sociales

École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales

The École des hautes études en sciences sociales is a leading French institution for research and higher education, a Grand Établissement. Its mission is research and research training in the social sciences, including the relationship these latter maintain with the natural and life sciences...

 as an applied research professor. Kolm has taught at social-science institutes also in the USA (Harvard University

Harvard University

Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

, Stanford University

Stanford University

The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...

).

Publications

• Serge-Christophe Kolms Website
• Kolm, S.-C. (2005): On Real Economic Freedom
• Kolm, S.-C. (1969): The optimal production of social justice. In J. Margolis and H. Guitton (Eds.), Public Economics, pp. 145–200. London
• Kolm, S.-C. (1976): Unequal inequalities I. Journal of Economic Theory 12, 416—442.
• Kolm, S.-C. (1976): Unequal inequalities II. Journal of Economic Theory 13, 82—111.
• Kolm, S.-C. (1977): La transition socialiste [The transition to socialism], éditions du Cerf.
• Kolm, S.-C. (1978): Solutions socialistes [Socialist solutions], éditions Ramsay.
• Kolm, S.-C. (1979): 'A General Theory of Socialist Failure', in. Persson, Bo (ed.), Surviving Failures: Patterns and Cases of Project Mismanagement. Almquist and Wicksell Int., Stockholm, Sweden; and Atlantic Highlands, N.J.: Humanities. pp. 61–70.
• Kolm, S.-C. (1996): Intermediate measures of inequality. Technical report, CGPC.

Footnotes