Research

Working Papers

• “I’ll have what the group is having”: How Social Norms Sensitivity affects Individual Behavior (single-authored, availiable here)

Abstract: Do personal values always drive individual behavior, or are there situations where social norms are more influential? I argue that as an individual’s norm sensitivity increases, that is, their propensity to adhere to social norms, the effect of their personal values on their behavior weakens. This study provides the first empirical evidence of individual differences in norm sensitivity using observational data from the World Values Survey across 59 countries and focusing on three behavioral domains (religious behavior, civic involvement, and pro-environmental behavior). I find that individuals with higher norm sensitivity are more likely to adhere to social norms, and for individuals with lower norm sensitivity, their personal values are more important in explaining their behavior. These findings demonstrate the importance of considering individual variation in norm sensitivity when designing effective behavioral interventions. In high sensitivity contexts, public commitment campaigns focusing on normative societal beliefs may be more effective, whereas in low sensitivity contexts, interventions targeting personal values (e.g., educational programs) may yield better results.

Selected Work in Progress 

• Breaking the Black Box: How Gender Discrimination Shapes Health in Europe (single-authored)

• Optimal Revenue Assignment and the Impact of Tax Autonomy: A Survey (with Jorge Martinez-Vazquez, Santiago Lago-Peñas and Cristian Sepulveda)

• The Cost of School Holidays: Mothers pay the Price (with Andrea Pop-Catalisan)

Publications

• Lago, M.E. (2026).  "#MeToo…or not? Do salient shocks affect gender social norms?" The Journal of Economic Inequality. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10888-025-09718-0 

• Lago, M.E., Samahita, M. & Doyle, O. (2025). "Unraveling gender norms: Social and personal norms in the preferential promotion of women." Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics, 115, 102336.

• Lago, M.E., Lago-Peñas, S. & Martinez-Vazquez, J. (2024). "On the effects of intergovernmental grants: a survey. " Int Tax Public Finance, 31, 856–908. 

• Lago, M.E., Lago-Peñas, S. & Martinez-Vazquez, J. (2024). "Side Effects in Designing Intergovernmental Grants." OECD Background Paper.

• Lago, M.E. & Lago, I. (2021). "From the Brady Bunch to Gilmore girls: The effect of household size on economic voting." American Politics Research, 49(4), 400–411.

Honors and Awards

• Irish Research Council Scholarship 

2023-2025

• Denis Conniffe Prize for the best paper by a young economist

IEA 2023  

“#MeToo...or not? Do salient shocks affect gender social norms?”

• Cormac O'Grada Award for best transfer seminar 

UCD School of Economics 2023