“An Analysis of Strategic Allocations in Weighted Networks" with David Rojo Arjona.
In various economic, social, and political networks, individuals allocate finite resources, such as effort or money, across other individuals connected to them. Optimal responses require individuals to internalize allocations by those indirectly connected to them (inescapable network of mutuality). In contrast, socially myopic responses consider only direct connections and their relative value. In a novel laboratory experiment inducing weighted networks of conflict, we manipulate network positions and value of connections exogenously. Results show that socially myopic responses are more prevalent than optimal choices, especially as the value condition increases. However, deviations from this benchmark still occur and are mainly driven by eigenvector centrality. In line with previous evidence, we report that the individual's own eigenvector centrality plays a role in decision-making: individuals with low eigenvector centrality exhibit larger deviations (and higher profits). Our setting also allows to reveal a new mechanism: the eigenvector centrality of the directly connected individuals systematically affects allocations. Our evidence suggests that, although individuals are unable to internalize the whole network, they imperfectly assimilate important aspects of it for their bilateral interactions.
“Alignment and Misalignment of Perceptions Toward Collective Action in Antibiotic Use: Evidence from the One Health Sectors in Colombia" with Laura A. Harvey, Maria Fernanda Moreno Salas, Juliana Quintero and Aura Lucia Leal. [Submitted]
Collective responses to antimicrobial resistance (AMR) depend critically on the degree to which stakeholders share coherent perceptions of the problem. We surveyed 1,413 respondents across Colombia’s One Health sectors—human health, animal health, pharmaceutical, and the general community—to examine how aligned their perceptions are regarding antibiotic prescription practices and pharmaceutical influence. Using coordination indices adapted from experimental economics, we quantify perceptual alignment both within and between sectors and compare empirical results against a random-response baseline. All groups display significant internal coordination, but its magnitude varies: the general community shows the highest within-sector agreement, while human-health professionals are the least internally consistent. Between-sector alignment is strongest for pharmaceutical–community and animal–pharmaceutical pairs, and weakest for pairs involving the human-health sector. These findings reveal that perceptual misalignment is structured rather than random, suggesting that effective AMR policy requires fostering both internal consensus within professional groups and cross-sector communication to enable coordinated collective action.
Polanski, A., & Cortes-Corrales, S. (2026). Stability and resilience of alliances: A network approach. Journal of Public Economics, 256, 105610.
Cortes-Corrales, S., & Gorny, P. M. (2024). How strength asymmetries shape multi-sided conflicts. Economic Theory, 1-40.
Paez, D. C., Cortés-Corrales, S., Jimenez-Mora, M. A., Gutiérrez, A., Arango-Paternina, C. M., & Duperly, J. (2024). Health-related fitness in medical students: a curricular intervention in Bogota, Colombia. BMC Public Health, 24(1), 320.
García, D., Alcalá, L., Quintero, J., Cortés, S., Brochero, H., & Carrasquilla, G. (2017). Effect of the type and number of washes in the efficacy of long lasting insecticidal nets for Aedes aegypti control in Girardot, Colombia. Biomédica, 37(Sup. 2), 180-186.
Arciniegas Calle, M. C., Lobelo, F., Jiménez, M. A., Páez, D. C., Cortés, S., De Lima, A., & Duperly, J. (2016). One-day workshop-based training improves physical activity prescription knowledge in Latin American physicians: a pre-test post-test study. BMC Public Health, 16, 1-12.
Higuera-Mendieta, D. R., Cortés-Corrales, S., Quintero, J., & González-Uribe, C. (2016). KAP surveys and dengue control in Colombia: disentangling the effect of sociodemographic factors using multiple correspondence analysis. PLoS neglected tropical diseases, 10(9), e0005016.
Castañeda, J., Gómez, K., Corrales, L., & Cortés, S. (2016). A profile of resistance in bacteria and the mechanisms associated due to the presence of the enzyme NDM-1: a systematic review. Nova, 14(25), 95-111.
Alfonso-Sierra, E., Basso, C., Beltrán-Ayala, E., Mitchell-Foster, K., Quintero, J., Cortés, S., ... & Kroeger, A. (2016). Innovative dengue vector control interventions in Latin America: what do they cost?. Pathogens and Global Health, 110(1), 14-24.
García-Betancourt, T., Higuera-Mendieta, D. R., González-Uribe, C., Cortés, S., & Quintero, J. (2015). Understanding water storage practices of urban residents of an endemic dengue area in Colombia: perceptions, rationale and socio-demographic characteristics. PLoS One, 10(6), e0129054.
Quintero, J., García-Betancourt, T., Cortés, S., García, D., Alcalá, L., González-Uribe, C., ... & Carrasquilla, G. (2015). Effectiveness and feasibility of long-lasting insecticide-treated curtains and water container covers for dengue vector control in Colombia: a cluster randomised trial. Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 109(2), 116-125.
"The lottery Colonel Blotto game with battlefield-specific fixed costs" with Dan Kovenock and David Rojo Arjona (Slides).
We examine two-player, n-battlefield, symmetric, Colonel Blotto games with lottery contest success functions in which each player is endowed with a use-it-or-lose-it budget, of a one-dimensional resource (e.g, time, money or soldiers). Players simultaneously allocate their budget across the n battlefields to maximize the expected number of battlefields won. We alter the standard treatment of this game by assuming that, for any strictly positive allocation to a battlefield, a player must pay a constant, battlefield-specific fixed cost (denominated in units of the resource), from the budget as well. This adds a new dimension to the analysis, the trade-off that exists between the extensive margin – the number of battlefields entered – and the intensive margin – the strength of presence within a given battlefield.
“Survival in Economic Networks" with Arnold Polanski .
We study how network structure influences long-run survival of competitors in a constant-sum environment. We develop a dynamic model of competition with exit on an exogenous bipartite network of firms and markets. Firms engage in repeated Bertrand competition in each market they serve, and may go bankrupt (exit) if out-competed. Using this framework, we derive conditions under which the network's topology guarantees the elimination of certain firms. We establish a connectivity threshold such that if the network is sufficiently dense then only a subset of firms can survive in the steady state. We provide general bounds on the number of surviving firms in terms of the degree distribution of the network, yielding both lower and upper limits. In particular, it shows that the set of surviving firms corresponds to a large independent set of the network, and thus survival is constrained by degree heterogeneity.
“Team work organisation as a learning device" with David Rojo Arjona and Piercarlo Zanchettin.
We study a new form of screening via experimental workers-to-tasks allocations in an organizational (firm) setting characterized by a network of tasks which exhibit input (team) complementarity. The firm has incomplete information about the workers' productivities, and dynamically allocates workers to tasks over a (finite or infinite) time horizon. An interesting trade-off arises between eliciting information via sub-optimal allocations (in view of the achieved interim information) and maximizing expected profits (conditional to the interim information).
“Focality and asymmetry in multi-battle all-pay contests” with Subhasish Chowdhury, Dan Kovenock and David Rojo Arjona.
We examine experimentally the effects of “focality" on individual behaviour in Colonel Blotto games. The experimental data of this project has already been collected. We are conducting the empirical analysis at the moment.