1. Distributive preferences and Effort Provision: A Two-Way Link (2021)

(with Jaromír Kovářík and Luis Miller)

 This paper analyzes the link between effort and distributive preferences in an environment in which effort does not affect the amount to be distributed. We propose a model that suggests that such a link is bidirectional. People adapt their distributional choices to their performance in a self-serving way, but they also exert effort in line with their distributive preferences. The literature has documented a link running from effort to distributive preferences. We provide evidence of the reverse relationship: individuals who make egalitarian choices later make less effort than people who behave selfishly. Our results thus provide one explanation for self-serving assessments of fairness documented in the literature and place distributive preferences among the determinants of effort and productivity.

2.  Short-term unemployment fluctuations and voter turnout (2022)

(with Jaromír Kovářík and Luis Miller)

Although the link between unemployment and voter participation has extensively been studied, the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. We theorize that the aggregate impact of unemployment depends on an interaction between contextual variables and two classic economic voting motivations, pocketbook and sociotropic. We exploit a natural experiment provided by the 2015 and 2016 general elections in Spain held six months apart, enabling to assess the clean impact of short-term economic shocks without confounding their impact with more deeply-rooted structural changes in the economy, society, and political attitudes. At the macro-level, unemployment mobilizes voters in high-unemployment regions but discourages them under low unemployment. However, individual (un)employment shocks–but not macroeconomic conditions–predict the change in participation in the labor force, suggesting pocketbook voting motives. In contrast, participation of pensioners, unexposed to individual labor shocks and with little stakes in labor markets, reacts to area-level unemployment fluctuations. Hence, the aggregate link between unemployment and turnout results from an interaction among diverse social processes.

3. Cognitive Styles and Cooperation: Intuition vs Impulsivity (2022)

The relationship between intuition and cooperation has been widely studied with mixed results. We argue that these may be due to two particular issues. First, the fact that some manipulations considered to promote intuition, consisting in self-control depletion, could lead to an impulsive, rather than intuitive, cognitive style. Second,  a mediation of gender in the effect of intuition. We hypothesize that impulsivity might decrease cooperation, whereas intuition might increase cooperation in females and decrease it in males. To test these hypotheses, we conduct a Public Good Game experiment under three conditions: Cognitive Load (CL) that should induce intuitive decisions, Ego Depletion (ED) that should induce impulsive decisions and a control treatment. We find that ED unambiguously increases free riding, confirming that impulsivity increases selfishness. The effect of CL is mediated by gender; CL increases free riding in males, whereas it makes females more cooperative.

1. Risk Comunication strategies for pest control decisions

(with Douadia Bougherara and Sophie Thoyer)

One of the most recent innovations in the field of agriculture is the development of Decision Support Tools (DSTs): a set of software applications designed to provide information to assist farmers and advisors in their decision-making processes. Among the functionalities introduced by these software tools is the provision of information on the risk of pests, which allows for improvements in pest control decisions. However, this information may be complex and difficult to interpret for end-users, especially those with low numeracy. In this project, we aim to address this issue by applying experimental methods to identify optimal risk communication strategies. By bridging the gap between complex data and user comprehension, our research seeks to enhance the effectiveness of DSTs in supporting decision-making within the agricultural sector. 

2. Effects of pre-natal testosterone exposure on overconfidence in social networks

      (with Jaromír Kovářík)

We analyze the relationship between pre-natal testosterone exposure and social overconfidence. For that purpose we analyze a dataset of a network formed by university students. We measure pre-natal testosterone exposure through digit ratios (2D:4D) and social overconfidence through the difference between the number of friends that a particular subjects declares to have (out-degree) and the number of subjects who mention him as a friend (in-degree). We find a positive relationship between pre-natal testosterone exposure and social overconfidence in males, whereas for females this correlation is negative.