Benoît Le Maux

Benoît Le Maux is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Rennes 1, where he serves as a researcher at CREM (UMR CNRS 6211) and co-facilitator of the PPVD (Public Policy, Voting and Democracy) division. He co-directs the Master's degree in 'Engineering, Management, and Evaluation of Public Policies' and was previously co-director of the Master's in 'Public Economics and Public Finance' (2008-2016). He actively participates in academic governance as an elected member of the Scientific Council of the Faculty of Economics and the executive board of the European Public Choice Society (2012-2015).

• PhD in Economics, University of Rennes 1 (2006)
• HDR (Authorization to Direct Research), University of Rennes 1 (2013)

His research focuses on public policy evaluation, microeconomic analysis of collective choices, behavioral economics, and the interplay between decentralization and democratic governance. He has published extensively on topics including legislative size optimization, ethical behavior in experimental settings, cost-benefit evaluation methods, and the political economy of local public finance. His peer-reviewed articles address questions such as the impact of monetary incentives on dishonesty, the efficacy of honesty nudges, and the determinants of public spending under fragmented political systems.

Recent publications include Monetary incentives and the contagion of unethical behavior (2024) and On the optimal size of legislatures (2023), which analyze behavioral economics and institutional design. His work Local Public Economy (2020, with Sonia Paty) won the AFSE 2021 Prize in the 'Manual' category.

• AFSE 2021 Prize for 'Local Public Economy'

Le Maux supervises PhD students including Pauline Mille (decentralization and citizen representation) and Kristýna Dostálová (quasi-experimental analysis of local public goods). He contributes to the scientific community through editorial roles in the Journal of Economic Policy and co-organizing conferences like the ANR Citizens project meetings in 2024. His research is supported by collaborations with institutions such as the Condorcet Center for Political Economy and the European Public Choice Society.