Begoña Cabeza Martínez

I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics and Public Finance at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. Previously I worked at the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission. In May 2023 I received a PhD in Social and Economic Sciences from the University of Antwerp.

I am interested in the drivers of preferences for redistribution and social preferences, such as inequality perceptions, meritocratic beliefs, or economic/health shocks. I have experience collecting and analysing survey data, designing and running experiments, and applying empirical methods in economics.

bego.cabeza@gmail.com | begona.cabeza@uam.es | Research Gate | Linkedin | ORCID

Publications

d'Hombres, B., Kovacic, M., Cabeza Martínez, B. (2026). Social media use, loneliness and emotional distress among young people in Europe. Social Science and Medicine - Mental Health, 9 100621. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmmh.2026.100621 (Link to working paper)
Cabeza Martínez, B., Da Costa, S. (2026). Taxation for development: the impact of the Ebola pandemic on citizen support across West Africa. The Journal of Economic Inequality, 24, 231–260. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10888-025-09679-4 (Link to WP, Afrobarometer) (Link to WP, CSB)
Cabeza Martínez, B., Decancq, K. (2025). How information about effort and luck shapes altruism of social preferences: a survey experiment. The Journal of Economic Inequality. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10888-025-09699-0 (Link to working paper)
Cabeza Martínez, B. (2023). Social preferences, support for redistribution, and attitudes towards vulnerable groups. Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics, 107, 102112. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socec.2023.102112 (Link to working paper)
Cabeza B., Decancq, K. (2019). Beliefs about the role of effort and luck during the Great Recession in Spain. In: Koen Decancq and Philippe Van Kerm (eds.) What drives Inequality? Research on Economic Inequality, Volume 27, Emerald Publishing. 139-153. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1049-258520190000027010 (Link to working paper)

Working papers and work in progress

Blasco, A., Cabeza Martínez, B., Icardi, R., Krawczyk. Fairness or Self-Interest? An Experiment on How Communication Shapes European Views of Fairness in the EU Asylum Relocation System. https://ssrn.com/abstract=6314759 / http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.6314759 (R&R JEBO)
Cabeza Martínez, B., Da Costa, S., Serrano Alarcón, M. Determinants of preferences for redistribution across Africa and the impact of COVID.
Cabeza Martínez, B., Da Costa, S. Dynamic preferences for redistribution and the role of disease in the African context.
Blasco, A., Cabeza Martínez, B., Icardi, R., Krawczyk. Solidarity among European countries: what is a fair allocation rule?
Cabeza Martínez, B., Perceptions about the responsibility cut: on the classification of effort or luck-driven variables.
Cabeza Martinez, B., Cortesi, A. and Vlachos, S., Social media use and youth mental health and well-being: a systematic review of longitudinal and experimental evidence, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 2026, https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2760/3963302, JRC146547.
Vlachos, S., Cortesi, A. and Cabeza Martinez, B., Digital engagement and academic performance outcomes of children, adolescents and young adults: a PRISMA-guided systematic review emphasizing longitudinal and experimental evidence, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 2026, https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2760/7227266, JRC146548.

Book chapters

Cabeza Martínez, B. (forthcoming 11/2026). Social preferences: definition and measurement. In: Bereket Kebede (ed.) Elgar Encyclopedia of Experimental Social Science. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Cabeza Martínez, B. (forthcoming 11/2026). The determinants of support for redistribution and the role of social preferences. In: Bereket Kebede (ed.) Elgar Encyclopedia of Experimental Social Science. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Book review of Ribotta, S. y Rossetti, A. (eds.) (2015) “Los derechos sociales y su exigibilidad”, Dykinson, Madrid, published in Derechos y Libertades (2016), no. 35, Dykinson, Madrid.