Research 

Working Papers

“The Curse of Centrality in Weighted Networks" with David Rojo Arjona (JMP). 

In a wide range of economic, social, and political networks, agents allocate a finite resource, such as time, across their differently valued connections with other agents. A growing theoretical literature investigates how these pre-existing weighted networks affect optimal allocations. This paper offers, instead, an empirical analysis identifying the effect of elements of the network on actual allocations. For that, we design a novel experiment and analyze the resulting compositional data. By focusing on conflict networks, we find that resources allocated against individuals with higher centrality exceed the theoretical benchmarks: the curse of centrality

published and accepted Papers

• 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.

Work in progress

• "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.

• “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.

• “From oligopolistic markets to local monopolies: a network approach". 

We analyze a dynamic framework in which firms engage in a dynamic competition, akin to a repeated game, where the possibility of bankruptcy and permanent exit from each market exists. Moreover, we take into account the regional aspects wherein a firm competes in various markets alongside subsets of other firms. These two elements hold significant importance in assessing the impact of firms’ actions within markets. While a framework combining these two elements is currently absent in the current literature, the key contribution of this paper lies in unraveling the influence of the initial market structure within this dynamic setting. By doing so, we aim to comprehend the determinants of the number of firms capable of establishing themselves as monopolies and the speed at which such a state is reached.

• “Research program for the monitoring of the resistance of antimicrobe in Colombia with a One Health Approach". with Aura Lucia Leal Castro, Juliana Quintero, Nohemi Caballero, Laura Harvey, Alexandra Porras and Dario Londono.

The objective of this project is to create a surveillance programme for RAM in sewage waters following the One Health approach with the aim of contributing the National Plan of Surveillance of RAM of the Colombian Government.  

To achieve our objective, we propose a research programme based on three sequential phases: i) diagnosis of the relevant factors contributing to RAM based on the interactions of humans, animals, and the environment, ii) design of scalable system of surveillance based on the initial diagnosis and iii) cost-benefit evaluation of the proposed system. The first the phase of the project will use a mixed methods approach to evaluate of the current system of surveillance of RAM, implemented by the local/country authorities, and an initial data collection process to identify biological, environmental, socio-economic, and cultural factors that are contributing to the levels of RAM in and in the surroundings of the Colombia’s capital city.