Renaud Bourlès

Renaud Bourlès is Professor of Economics at Aix-Marseille University, holding positions at both Centrale Marseille and Aix-Marseille School of Economics (AMSE). He serves as Head of the Economics-Management teaching unit and is responsible for the 3rd year option "Economic and financial data and decisions" at Centrale Marseille. He also heads the Economics and Finance specialization at Ecole Centrale Marseille and the Quantitative Finance and Insurance track of the Master Aix-Marseille School of Economics.

His primary research interests focus on contract theory, particularly risk-sharing mechanisms, microfinance, and economic growth. His work spans various subfields including altruism in networks, informal risk-sharing cooperatives, income taxation, entrepreneurial motivation, and prevention incentives in insurance contracts. His research combines theoretical modeling with empirical evidence, particularly from microfinance institutions in France.

Bourlès' publications demonstrate strong trends in network-based economic interactions, with significant contributions to understanding how social networks facilitate or hinder risk-sharing arrangements. His work bridges theoretical economics with practical applications in microfinance, insurance, and public policy. Recent publications show an expanding interest in pension systems, climate policies, and AI adoption, indicating evolving research directions while maintaining his core focus on incentive structures.

Bourlès has supervised doctoral students including Sarah Vincent, Santiago Lopez-Cantor, and Ernesto Ugolini. His teaching portfolio is extensive, covering Insurance economics, Theory of incentives, Game Theory, Industrial organization, and specialized courses in risk and insurance economics, actuarial science, and microfinance. Previously, he taught Mathematics for finance and Arbitrage at IAE Toulouse School of Management (2008-2010).

He maintains an active research presence with working papers on topics including female entrepreneurship, pension design, and prudential regulation in financial networks. His dissemination efforts include publications in The Conversation and Economic Dialogues, addressing topics such as capital-labor relations, altruism and risk, HIV-education relationships, and entrepreneurial motivations.