El interés central de mi trabajo es el análisis y diseño de instituciones (reglas del juego) que promuevan la cooperación entre individuos y la solución de dilemas sociales de la manera mas eficiente, equitativa, democrática y sostenible posible. Supervisors: samuel bowles Phone: +57133949492473 Address: Calle 19A 1E-10 Piso 8
Facultad de Economia
Modern theoretical and empirical economic approaches to the problem of development and growth are... more Modern theoretical and empirical economic approaches to the problem of development and growth are increasingly paying attention to the interaction between institutions and behavior in explaining well-being. From the primitives of economic growth and development that included mostly material preferences, technology, and endowments, there is a growing interest in exploring how psychological and sociological factors (e.g. bounded rationality, norms, or networks) also influence economic decisions and thus economic outcomes. Simultaneously, a vast literature has arisen arguing that economic experiments are important tools in identifying and measuring the impacts of social norms and preferences. Reflecting on our experience conducting experiments in the field over the past five years, we survey the growing literature at the intersection of these two research programs. Our review has four components. In the introduction we set the stage identifying the behavioral factors that are important...
We explore gender differences in preferences for competition and risk among children aged 9-12 in... more We explore gender differences in preferences for competition and risk among children aged 9-12 in Colombia and Sweden, two countries differing in gender equality according to macro indices. We include four types of tasks that vary in gender stereotyping when looking at competitiveness: running, skipping rope, math and word search. We find that boys and girls are equally competitive in all tasks and all measures in Colombia. Unlike the consistent results in Colombia, the results in Sweden are mixed, with some indication of girls being more competitive than boys in some tasks in terms of performance change, whereas boys are more likely to choose to compete in general. Boys in both countries are more risk taking than girls, with a smaller gender gap in Sweden.
Models of job tournaments and competitive workplaces more generally predict that while individual... more Models of job tournaments and competitive workplaces more generally predict that while individual effort may increase as competition intensifies between workers, the incentive for workers to cooperate with each other diminishes. We report on a field experiment conducted with workers from ...
Rural Institutions Poverty and Cooperation Learning from Experiments and Conjoint Analysis in the Field, 2000
This dissertation studies the problem of managing local commons or common-pool resources from the... more This dissertation studies the problem of managing local commons or common-pool resources from the micro foundations of a collective action dilemma. The approach is mostly empirical, and combines field work, experimental economics and conjoint analysis techniques in ...
If participation in the labour market helps to secure women's outside options in the case of ... more If participation in the labour market helps to secure women's outside options in the case of divorce/separation, an increase in the perceived risk of marital dissolution may accelerate the increase in female labour supply. This simple prediction has been tested in the literature using time and/or spatial variation in divorce legislation (e.g., across US states), leading to mixed results. In this paper, we suggest testing this hypothesis by exploiting a more radical policy change, i.e., the legalization of divorce. In Ireland, the right to divorce was introduced in 1996, followed by an acceleration of marriage breakdown rates. We use this fundamental change in the Irish society as a natural experiment. We follow a difference-in-difference approach, using families for whom the dissolution risk is small as a control group. Our results suggest that the legalization of divorce contributed to a significant increase in female labour supply, mostly at the extensive margin. Results are n...
Modern theoretical and empirical economic approaches to the problem of development and growth are... more Modern theoretical and empirical economic approaches to the problem of development and growth are increasingly paying attention to the interaction between institutions and behavior in explaining well-being. From the primitives of economic growth and development that included mostly material preferences, technology, and endowments, there is a growing interest in exploring how psychological and sociological factors (e.g. bounded rationality, norms, or networks) also influence economic decisions and thus economic outcomes. Simultaneously, a vast literature has arisen arguing that economic experiments are important tools in identifying and measuring the impacts of social norms and preferences. Reflecting on our experience conducting experiments in the field over the past five years, we survey the growing literature at the intersection of these two research programs. Our review has four components. In the introduction we set the stage identifying the behavioral factors that are important...
We explore gender differences in preferences for competition and risk among children aged 9-12 in... more We explore gender differences in preferences for competition and risk among children aged 9-12 in Colombia and Sweden, two countries differing in gender equality according to macro indices. We include four types of tasks that vary in gender stereotyping when looking at competitiveness: running, skipping rope, math and word search. We find that boys and girls are equally competitive in all tasks and all measures in Colombia. Unlike the consistent results in Colombia, the results in Sweden are mixed, with some indication of girls being more competitive than boys in some tasks in terms of performance change, whereas boys are more likely to choose to compete in general. Boys in both countries are more risk taking than girls, with a smaller gender gap in Sweden.
Models of job tournaments and competitive workplaces more generally predict that while individual... more Models of job tournaments and competitive workplaces more generally predict that while individual effort may increase as competition intensifies between workers, the incentive for workers to cooperate with each other diminishes. We report on a field experiment conducted with workers from ...
Rural Institutions Poverty and Cooperation Learning from Experiments and Conjoint Analysis in the Field, 2000
This dissertation studies the problem of managing local commons or common-pool resources from the... more This dissertation studies the problem of managing local commons or common-pool resources from the micro foundations of a collective action dilemma. The approach is mostly empirical, and combines field work, experimental economics and conjoint analysis techniques in ...
If participation in the labour market helps to secure women's outside options in the case of ... more If participation in the labour market helps to secure women's outside options in the case of divorce/separation, an increase in the perceived risk of marital dissolution may accelerate the increase in female labour supply. This simple prediction has been tested in the literature using time and/or spatial variation in divorce legislation (e.g., across US states), leading to mixed results. In this paper, we suggest testing this hypothesis by exploiting a more radical policy change, i.e., the legalization of divorce. In Ireland, the right to divorce was introduced in 1996, followed by an acceleration of marriage breakdown rates. We use this fundamental change in the Irish society as a natural experiment. We follow a difference-in-difference approach, using families for whom the dissolution risk is small as a control group. Our results suggest that the legalization of divorce contributed to a significant increase in female labour supply, mostly at the extensive margin. Results are n...
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Papers by Juan Camilo Cardenas