Julie Bouvot is an illustrator from Lyon, France who has contributed to several children’s books. She also works as an archaeological illustrator. She is particularly fond of the comic strip medium, through which she makes complex subjects playful and easy to understand.
William Honvo is an economist who studied at the Ecole Normale Supérieur Paris Saclay. A qualified economics teacher, he teaches economics at the Albert School. After a spell at the Banque de France in charge of public finance forecasts, he is now internal auditor (general inspection) for the Caisse des Dépôts group.
In this comic book, Les économistes sauveront la planète [i], a step away from the Club’s usual genre, Julie Bouvot and William Honvo offer us an accessible, relevant and entertaining explanation of the issues at stake at the crossroads between the worlds of economics, politics and the fight against climate change. Thanks to their amusing tone and endearing characters, the authors manage to get us hooked on a story while teaching us the fundamentals of environmental and climate policy, covering a wide range of subjects such as environmental economics, climate economics and finance.
We’re drawn into Elise’s story as she sees her precious vegetable garden, filled with quality produce and self-sufficient in both water and energy, polluted by the evil factory near Chablis. The plant discharges toxic waste, heavy metal residues and chemicals into the local waters, leaving the vegetable garden sterile. So how will she save her precious patch? Thanks to her boundless determination, and the help of her economist (and ecologist) friend Martin, this is the question this innovative, educational comic book will try to answer.
The story will therefore be divided into several chapters, each describing one of the methods to be considered for limiting the environmental impact of economic activities. Initially shocked by the discovery of the many political blockages to her catastrophic problem, the adventure gradually takes on the form of an ultra-realistic and educational novel.
The book covers all levels of environmental political action, from local citizen involvement to a visit to New York to meet the international leaders responsible for preserving our environment. Beginning with local and then national regulations, before entering the Ministries of the Economy and Ecological Transition and traveling to Brussels and the United States, an exhaustive range of measures is described and dissected. The authors successively present the regulatory process and the immense burden of proof required, environmental taxes and the economic theory that launched them (the pioneering work of Martin Weitzman), and the functioning of carbon markets…
In short, this comic strip presents, at different scales, all the themes addressed by contemporary students, economists, politicians and social scientists in their commitment to preserving the environment and climate. From direct measures to the essential long-term vision (low-carbon investments, and deeper model change towards degrowth), the picture is complete without being overly complex.
Julie Bouvot and William Honvo’s comic strip will appeal to a wide audience, with its sharp, humorous tone, even satirical at times. From beginners wishing to discover the political and economic stakes of environmental commitment, to environmental policy aficionados and over-confident economists, everybody will find their place in it.
We recommend that all professionals in this field own a copy: we couldn’t think of a better way to (finally) make our work properly understood by friends and family.
Jules Welgryn, CEC Research Fellow.
[i] Bouvot,J. & Honvo,W. avec la collaboration de Chaussinand,A., Les économistes sauveront la planète (avec un peu d’aide), Ed. de Boeck Supérieur, Octobre 2023, pp.192.