BETA is a research laboratory of the University Louis Pasteur (ULP, Strasbourg), University Nancy 2 and the French National Centre for Scientific Research CNRS.

 

It was created in 1972 and it became an « associate » member of CNRS in 1985, BETA’s activities cover a large range of topics dealing with basic as well as applied scientific research in the fields of economics and management science.

Historically, the laboratory developed its research programme along several research directions based on micro and macro–economic theories, and is heir to a local tradition of history of economic thought. It has also developed a number of focus areas, often resulting from the fruitful interaction of « theoretical » approaches and « applied » approaches – as expressed in its name – such as the economics of innovation, management of technology and organisations, environmental economics, socio–economic approaches of education, training and employment, and more recently historical economics and cliometrics.

The result has been the creation of collective competences from years of practice with different methodologies: modelling techniques, econometrics, methods of technology evaluation and foresight, experimental economics, to mention only a few.

In addition, BETA has integrated since January 2005 a research team located at the University Nancy 2, which specialises mainly in the economics of law and in social economics.

In June 2007 BETA numbered some 99 staff members with permanent positions (mainly professors and assistant professors of the university, researchers, administrative and technical personnel) and over 70 non–permanent staff (PhD students and post–docs).

To manage the laboratory, BETA set up internal structures : 2 components in Strasbourg organised around some ten research areas and one component in Nancy.

The first component, called « Economics of Change and Management of Systems » (Echanges) gathers all researchers whose work focuses mainly on topics dealing with the evolution of economic structures. It concentrates on the creation, distribution and diffusion of knowledge: from the firm to national systems of innovation as well as training systems. The research carried out insists on the necessary dialogue between conceptual approaches, both theoretical and applied. It includes work on the economics of knowledge as well as on industrial management and the economics of science. The component is organised around specific research issues and calls – according to needs and topics – on several disciplines in addition to economics and management. Its dynamics is organised around collective projects which bring together the interests and energies of researchers for relatively long periods of time. These projects provide opportunities for bringing together researchers from the laboratory as a whole, independently of their belonging to one or the other component. Recently a historical and cliometric dimension was added to this component

 

The second component, called « Economic Theory and Modelling » (Theme), focuses the core of its activity on economic theory and modelling, as indicated by its labelling. It brings together a group of researchers who share a common methodology, which is characterised by a strong quantitative approach, be it from a theoretical, experimental or econometric point of view. The activity is concentrated therefore around two main topics related to the theory of modelling in the areas of micro and macro– economics: namely on the one hand experimental economics, which complements micro–economic modelling but at the same proves different in its approach and on the other hand the economics of risk and the environment. The history of economic thought rounds up the research coverage of BETA. It is one of the most original features of the research laboratory.

 

Finally the third and most recent component, called « Economic Research on Governance, Law and Social Issues » (Regles) is located at the University Nancy 2. It became part of BETA in January 2005. It focuses on the economics of law, with the aim to develop an analysis of the dynamics of legal systems, particularly in connection with financial systems. Social economics and its relation to labour and family law represent a second research area. Regulation of risks is one of the research areas which in its dimension of economics of risks as well as in its dimension of economics of property rights contributes to the integration of both sites. The analysis of legal systems is an additional area of competence of Regles.