About Us

Social Preferences and Inequalities: Updates in Behavioral Economics and Experimental Studies

About Us

What we do at the Social Preferences and Inequalities LAB?

Our research laboratory is committed to exploring the intricate dynamics of social preferences and their profound impact on socioeconomic decision-making processes. Through our research, we aim to contribute valuable knowledge to the academic field while fostering a deeper understanding of human behavior within social and economic contexts.

We cordially invite scholars, practitioners, and visionaries from diverse disciplines—including economics, social sciences, behavioral sciences, and related fields—to share their research contributions. We offer an exchange of ideas, the presentation of innovative findings, and encouragement of enriching interdisciplinary debates.

Building on the success of our First International Research Symposium, titled «Social Preferences and Inequalities,» we are proud to announce the highly anticipated Second Keynote Lecture, titled «Trust as a Common.» This event will take place at the prestigious University of Santiago, located in the vibrant and culturally rich city of Santiago, Chile. The keynote address promises to be an inspiring convergence of ideas, bringing together diverse perspectives to illuminate this critical topic.

Whether you are an experienced expert or an emerging researcher, this keynote address offers a unique opportunity to present your work, connect with esteemed colleagues, and engage in meaningful dialogue. Together, we aim to push the boundaries of knowledge in behavioral economics and experimental studies, fostering collaboration and innovation.

Our mission is to inspire and cultivate new ideas, spark transformative conversations, and make meaningful contributions to the advancement of this compelling field.

Our Team

Alejandra Vásquez A, PhD

BIO

Alejandra is Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Santiago de Chile. She is a researcher specializing in the fields of Experimental Economics and Behavioural Economics, she is interested in how humans make decisions and interact with others. Her current research focuses on a major project entitled: Aversion to inequality in Chile: an investigation of the interaction between individual and social preferences. The central objective of her research lies in comprehending the intricate dynamics of human decision-making and social interactions.

In her academic pursuits, professor Vásquez demonstrates a profound fascination with the multifaceted factors that shape human behavior. Recognizing that cognitive, contextual, environmental and emotional elements significantly influence our actions. She acutely focuses on the examination of social preferences, empathy, conscientious consumption choices, wellbeing, and social dilemmas. Through meticulous investigation and analysis, she seeks to shed light on the underlying mechanisms that drive individual choices and cooperation in economic settings.

Scientific Collaborations:
She is a collaborating member of Unica-BERG, an interdisciplinary group of researchers interested in the experimental study of the socio-economic, cognitive and neuroscientific aspects of individual and collective decision making. The group is based at the University of Cagliari in Italy. UNICA-BERG Behavioral Economics Research Group (https://people.unica.it/berg/people/)

  • Visiting researcher at the University of Klagenfurt – Austria (May-June 2022) Wisdom, appreciation, moral choices and responsible consumption across cultures. With Dr. Judith Glück.
  • Sustainable Campus Network, Coordinator of the culture and sustainable behavior group and participates in network research.
  • Globusdoc grant University of Cagliari for research internship in the United States, 2016. De Paul University in Chicago – USA and University of Chicago, attended the Behavioural Economics course with Dr. Richard Thaler.

Vittorio Pelligra, PhD

BIO

Vittorio Pelligra is Associate Professor of Economics (13/A2) and Co-ordinator of the PhD program in Economics and Business. He teaches Economic Policy, Economics of Information and Behavioral Economics. His research interests are experimental and behavioral economics, civil economy and social and cognitive neurosciences. He coordinates the BERG, (Behavioral Economics Research Group) at the University of Cagliari, is research fellow of CRENoS (Centre for North-South Economic Research), is also a member of the scientific Committee of SEC – Scuola di Economia Civile. Vittorio is also co-founder of SmartLab and Wecoop, two companies active in the fields of data science and edutainment. He contributes to the #MindTheEconomy column, which appears every Sunday in the financial newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore.

Paula Luengo, PhD

BIO

Her research is situated at the intersection of developmental psychology and social psychology, focusing on understanding how individual and contextual factors interact over time to promote better living conditions, particularly among adolescents and youth. Specifically, she seeks to apply the science of development to the dynamic and longitudinal study of prosocial behaviors and civic and political engagement in a way that reduces social disparities and fosters social cohesion.

She has developed and leads the ProCíviCo project, an applied research initiative that aims to promote prosocial and civic participation in the school context. Additionally, she has developed school intervention projects to promote prosociality in Italy and various regions of Colombia.

Currently, she coordinates the Public Policy Unit (Evidence, Connection, and Advocacy, ECI) at the Center for the Study of Conflict and Social Cohesion in Chile, COES, where she is also an associated researcher.

She collaborates with an active international network of researchers who share the vision of social change through academia, hailing from Italy, Spain, Canada, Argentina, Colombia, the United States, and Brazil.

Her most recent research inquiries revolve around the processes involved in the micro-level of social cohesion, particularly the relationship between social inequality and diversity, encompassing dimensions such as social class, migratory status, ethnic origin, and gender.

Martín Leites, PhD

BIO

Martin Leites is a Professor at the Instituto de Economía (Iecon) of the School of Economics and Administration at the Universidad de la República del Uruguay (Udelar) in Uruguay. He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in the field of Microeconomics and the economics of inequality and poverty. His interests and expertise lie at the intersection of economic inequality, behavioral economics, and the microeconomics of development. His research agenda aims to enhance the understanding of how inequality impacts people’s behavior, leading to consequences in terms of welfare and efficiency, both at the individual and collective level. He is a member of the inequality and poverty research group (IECON) and the National System of Researchers (Nivel I- SNI), and collaborates with the group of ethics, justice, and economy (IECON). Additionally, he serves on the scientific Committee of the Ridge workshop on Inequality and Poverty. Martin has coordinated several research projects on the subject and has collaborated with public institutions in Uruguay in discussing, designing, and evaluating policies. His work appears among others, in The Economic Journal, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, and Journal of Economic Inequality. He holds a degree in Economics from the Universidad de la República del Uruguay, a Master’s degree, and a PhD in Economics from the Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona.

Marta Pancheva, PhD

BIO

Marta is an economist from Bulgaria. She holds a PhD in Economics from LUMSA University (Rome, Italy). She has been a visiting scholar at the Institute of Aging at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (Madison, USA) and has collaborated with research groups at the University of Milan-Bicocca within the longitudinal research project “Italian lives”, and at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland (Lugano, Switzerland) within the project «Analysis of the population in a situation of vulnerability: Exploratory study in the municipality of Mendrisio». Currently, Marta is a research fellow in Political Economy and lecturer of the courses Judgment and Managerial Decision Making and Research Methods and Statistics at SOPHIA University (Florence, Italy). Her main research interests include: social preferences; social capital; multidimensional well-being and poverty measures; income and health inequalities.

Visiting and Collaborations Research

Valentina Goglio

BIO

Valentina Goglio is Associate Professor of Economic Sociology at the Department of Cultures, Politics and Society of the University of Turin, Italy and Affiliate of Collegio Carlo Alberto, Italy.
Her research interests are at the intersection between education and the labour market, with a particular focus on the implications of the digital transformation for education and work. She holds a PhD in Labor Studies from the University of Milan and has been Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow with the Project «MOOC_DaSI».
Her recent publications are: «Mapping the Evolution of Platform Society» (with C. Biancalana), «Job insecurity and Life Courses» (with S. Bertolini and D. Hofacker) and «The Diffusion and Social Implications of MOOCs. A Comparative Study of the USA and Europe»

 Brit Grosskopf

BIO

Brit joined the University of Exeter Business School as a Professor of Economics in September 2013. She was Head of the Economics Department from September 2014 until December 2022. Originally from Germany, Brit did her undergraduate degree in economics at the Humboldt University in Berlin. She completed her PhD dissertation Social Preferences and Learning in Experimental Games under the supervision of Rosemarie Nagel at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, in 2000. She then spent three years at Harvard Business School, where she was a post-doc with Al Roth (Nobel Laureate, Economics 2012). Brit then took a tenure-track job at Texas A&M University where she was granted tenure in 2009. She moved to the University of Birmingham as a Professor in Experimental Economics in 2011, where she founded the Birmingham Experimental Economics Laboratory (BEEL) of which she was the Director until she joined Exeter. Brit’s research interests lie at the intersection of economics and psychology. She uses experimental methods to study individual and group behavior with a particular interest in social preferences, reasoning, learning, reputation, identity and happiness.

Filippos Exadaktylos

BIO

Filippos Exadaktylos is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Econometrics, Statistics, and Applied Economics at the University of Barcelona. He earned his PhD in Economics from the University of Granada and specializes in behavioral economics, climate change, social norms, and cooperation. His research employs experimental methods to analyze human behavior in economic contexts. Previously, Filippos held academic positions at Middlesex University and served as a Marie Curie Fellow. He also worked with the European Commission’s Economic Team. Renowned for his contributions to understanding social preferences and environmental behavior, Filippos has made a significant impact in his field.

Research Fellows

Airoon Torrealba: Data analysis, Report Writing, Reporting Findings
Constanza Vásquez: Conducting Surveys, Data Analysis, events coordination

Previous Research Collaboration

2023
Roberto San Martin: Literature Review, Experimental Design.
Ricardo Herrera: Conducting Surveys, Comparative Studies, Analyzing Data
2024
Brenda Garrido: Social and Individual Preferences, Theoretical Framework Development.
Cristian Mundaca: Data Analysis, Report Writing, Reporting Findings

Tesis

• Natali Muñoz: Actitudes hacia la desigualdad de Ingresos: Chile En Perspectiva Comparada
• Benjamin Pallauta: Análisis de la confianza ciudadana en la política chilena
• Ricardo Herrera: Comparación Internacional de Percepciones de Desigualdad entre Chile con Estados Unidos, Nueva Zelanda y Suecia.
• Tarik Rocha:
• Percepción de justicia, meritocracia, altruismo, posición social y su influencia en la movilidad social en Chile
• Luis Martinez: Percepción de justicia, meritocracia, altruismo, posición social y su influencia en la movilidad social en Chile
• Marcelo Azocar: Theoretical Perspectives on Inequality Aversion
• Constanza Vásquez: An Experimental Examination of Honesty and Social Norms in Chile
• Alexis Aravena: An Experimental Examination of Honesty and Social Norms in Chile
• Airoon Torrealba: Decisional Dynamics: Understanding Inequality Averse Preferences through Eye Tracking
• Sergio Bernal: Decisional Dynamics: Understanding Inequality Averse Preferences through Eye Tracking

Communicational Team

Alejandra Vásquez Alvarado: Coordinator of the Social Preferences Lab
Mariana Sánchez: Mariana is the designer behind this symposium’s visual identity.
Álvaro Romero: Álvaro is the webmaster, proficient in managing and maintaining the symposium’s website and online presence.
Valentina Delcampo: Valentina is dedicated to delivering content that captivates and enlightens our diverse audience.