Research

Working Papers

"The Perceived Valuation of Social Security Contributions: Evidence from Voluntary Contributions in Spain." 

Abstract: Social Security contributions often provide returns through future benefit formulas. I study how individuals perceive and respond to these incentives using the unique setting of the Spanish public pension system. In Spain, pension benefits are based on contributions in a limited number of years before retirement, creating extraordinary marginal incentives once contributions become linked to pension benefits. Rather uniquely, self-employed workers in Spain are allowed to voluntarily choose their Social Security contributions. I analyze their contribution behavior to reveal how they perceive the incentives embedded in public pension formulas. First, I document strikingly low voluntary contributions near retirement. Despite additional contributions could yield present-value benefits of up to €5.7 per €1 contributed, more than 70 percent of self-employed workers contributed at the statutory minimum. Second, I exploit a pension reform that generated variation on whether the contribution–benefit linkage occurred at a prominent point in the contribution schedule. I find that responses are substantially larger when the linkage occurs at such a point, suggesting that contribution incentives are better internalized when the linkage timing is more salient. Overall, the results suggest that pension design plays a critical role in shaping the perceived valuation of Social Security contributions.

I was awarded the Alexandre Pedrós prize for the best paper presented by young economists at the 28th Meeting on Public Economics.

"Localized Fuel Taxes and Consumer Behavior: Spatial Relocation and the Price Elasticity of Fuel Demand." with José M. Labeaga. Revision requested at the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management

Abstract: In this paper, we examine how localized fuel taxes induce spatial relocation of purchases, and their implications for estimating the price elasticity of fuel demand. Our empirical approach exploits multiple regional fuel tax changes in Spain, combined with granular subregional data on fuel prices and purchases. First, we document substantial spatial relocation: near regional borders, the elasticity of diesel purchases with respect to cross-regional price differences is as large as -9. Second, we show that failing to account for such relocation leads to a pronounced upward bias in estimated fuel price elasticities. Specifications that ignore cross-regional purchases suggest highly elastic fuel demand, whereas accounting for relocation renders fuel demand inelastic. Our findings highlight the relevance of spatial relocation in the observed responses to localized fuel taxes, and suggest that localized environmental policies may be less effective in reducing CO2 emissions than previously assumed.

"The Pass-Through of Differential Commodity Taxes: Do Relative Taxes among Competitors Matter?" with José M. Labeaga. CBT Working Paper 2026-03. Submitted

Abstract: This paper studies the pass-through of commodity taxes that apply differentially across competing firms. We exploit regional variations in fuel taxes in Spain, which generated sharp tax differences among competitors at either sides of regional borders. Using pump-level price data covering the universe of fuel stations in Spain, we find that equivalent tax shocks generate different price effects depending on whether they place affected firms at a competitive advantage or disadvantage relative to cross-regional rivals. High-tax stations near borders only partially shift their taxes, while their neighboring low-tax competitors do not respond to rivals' tax changes. In contrast, low-tax stations fully shift their taxes, and adjacent high-tax competitors also respond by raising their prices. We show that these asymmetric responses are particularly large in the presence of nearby regional competitors. Overall, our results are consistent with a significant influence of competitive dynamics on the pass-through of differential taxes and equivalent cost shocks among competing firms.

Work in Progress

"Uncovering the Channels of Bunching to the First Income Tax Kink: Evidence using Administrative Income Tax Records in Spain."

Summary: In this paper, I study the channels of behavioral responses to income taxes, with particular focus on the clarity of the income tax schedule and the availability of tax deductions. For this, I implement a bunching design to study the excess concentration of taxpayers around the threshold of income that allows not paying taxes, which is known as the first kink of the income tax schedule. I estimate taxpayers' bunching behavior using administrative income tax data for Spain. I compare the bunching behavior of taxpayers for income tax schedules in Spain that differ in the clarity of the first kink and depending on the availability of income tax deductions.