"Attention Allocation under Scarcity: Theory & Experiment"
Research shows that individuals facing scarcity make systematically different decisions, prioritizing short-term needs while neglecting future well-being, and often experiencing reduced productivity. This paper presents a theoretical framework that explains how perceived scarcity influences decision-making and productivity through an attention allocation mechanism. I show that p-scarcity drives cognitive resources towards tasks within the scarce domain, enhancing performance and decision quality in those areas but at the cost of neglecting other dimensions. Using insights from this model, I design a novel lab experiment to induce p-scarcity and test these predictions. The findings reveal how perceptions of scarcity, beyond actual resource limitations, impact economic behavior, with implications for policies aimed at improving decision-making and productivity for indviduals under scarcity.
Presented at:
Cognitive Foundations of Decision-Making Summer School at Ghent University (2025)
Choice and Welfare: Beyond the Rational Agent at Queen Mary University of London (2025)
Summer Institute in Theory-Based Experiments at Caltech (2024)
The Foundations of Utility and Risk (FUR) at University of Queensland (2024)
Invited Seminar at University of Sydney (2024)
Society for Neuroeconomics (SNE - Cascais) (2024)
European Association for Decision Making at UPF (2022)
"Rewiring Risk: Improving Coordination with Brain Stimulation" (with J. Apesteguia, E. Díez-Rodríguez, A. Oliviero, V. Soto-León)
Coordination problems are widespread in economic and social interactions, where individuals must align actions to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes. Evidence from multiple lab experiments shows that players often fail to coordinate, even after multiple rounds together. To explore the drivers of these coordination failures, we use a novel non-invasive brain stimulation technique (tSMS) on the left DLPFC to modulate idiosyncratic traits. Our findings, based on two double-blinded randomized sham controlled experiments, demonstrate that stimulating the left DLPFC increased risk attitudes in both lottery choices and coordination games, leading to higher coordination rates. We ruled out alternative mechanisms, such as patience, reciprocity, and beliefs, providing causal evidence on the importance of risk attitudes to achieve efficient coordination.
Presented at:
Society for Neuroeconomics (SNE - Boston) (2025) - POSTER LINK
NeuroPsychoEconomics at University College Dublin (2025)
Annual Conference of the French Association of Experimental Economics (ASFEE) (2025)
Neuroeconomics of Disadvantage Workshop at University of Sydney (2024)
Neuroeconomics Summer School at University of Pennsylvania (2023)
"Model Selection and Dataset Design" (with A. Salvanti)
Presented at:
Annual Conference of the French Association of Experimental Economics (ASFEE) (2025) - coauthor
Summer Institute on Bounded Rationality at Max Planck Institute Berlin (2023)
The 33rd Advanced School in Economic Theory at University of Jerusalem (2023)
Pre-doctoral research
"Gender Gap and Retirement Decisions: the Maternity Pension Supplement in Spain" (with A. Salvanti, C. Tris, H. Guias, J. Ferrando)
Covered in BSE Voice