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Marie-Anne Valfort

Paris School of Economics, France, and IZA@LISER, Luxembourg

I’m excited to be part of this innovative project. I hope that policymakers and academics alike will find IZA@LISER World of Labor a valuable resource for quickly accessing the latest research on a wide range of labour policy issues.

World of Labour role

Author

Current position

Professor, Paris School of Economics, France

Research interest

Labor economics, with a focus on discrimination, development economics

Website

https://www.marieannevalfort.com/

Positions/functions as a policy advisor

Senior Economist at the Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs, OECD

Qualifications

PhD in Economics, École Polytechnique, 2007

Selected publications

  • Invisible barriers. Understanding and Overcoming Discrimination in the Workplace, MIT Press, 2025, (with S. Carcillo).

  • "Disease and Human Capital Accumulation: Evidence from the Roll Back Malaria Partnership in Africa,. The Economic Journal 131:637 (2021): 2171–2202 (with M. Kuecken and J. Thuilliez).

  • Anti-Muslim discrimination in France: Evidence from a field experiment, World Development 135, 2020.

  • "The effect of weather-induced internal migration on local labor markets. Evidence from Uganda." World Bank Economic Review 29:2 (2015): 385–412 (with E. Strobl).

  • "Identifying barriers to Muslim integration in France." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS) 107:52 (2010): 384–390 (with Claire L. Adida and David D. Laitin).

Article(s)

  • Do anti-discrimination policies work? Updated

    Legal safeguards, employer accountability, evidence-based HR practices, and policies that empower at-risk groups are all needed

    Marie-Anne Valfort, June 2026
    Labour market discrimination is widespread and raises ethical, societal, and efficiency concerns. It not only results in the unfair treatment of individuals with comparable skills, but also imposes broader costs on society by eroding trust and weakening cohesion. Moreover, discrimination limits the full potential of the working-age population by excluding talent or trapping people in roles below their abilities. These effects are amplified by feedback loops: fewer opportunities lower labour market participation and productivity, while the harm discrimination inflicts on mental and physical health further reduces economic output.
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