• “Can fear change our beliefs?”

The pandemic has had a significant impact in Argentina due to the high number of fatalities and the strict extended lockdown during 2020. In December 2020, the government tried to inject hope by announcing the purchase of several millions of Russian vaccines. However, by then, the information about this vaccine was still scarce. In light of this situation, we performed an experiment exposing people to different perspectives about this news, highlighting the possible risks of the vaccine or the benefits of its arrival. The study shows that negative information instills fear and that partisan affinity works as a mold that shapes the impact of fear in various ways. Those in more clearly defined political positions reacted by bolstering their previous beliefs regarding the vaccine, while those with a vaguer political standing appeared to be more likely to change their trust. The study was performed by measuring facial expressions in participants through an online platform (Facereader).

• Applying behavioural science for domestic workers formalization (with Mary MacLane & Claire Hobden)

Since 2011, the International Labour Organization (ILO) has been implementing a programme to improve the working conditions of domestic workers – those women and men who perform tasks such as cleaning and caring for children and the elderly in private homes. Number 75 million globally, domestic workers have some of the poorest working conditions in the labour market. While progress has been made in improving their labour and social security rights, significant gaps remain. To accelerate progress, the ILO started to apply behavioural science as a means of improving compliance with labour and social security laws towards the achievement of targets under SDG 8 on decent work. Here, we report the results of two field experiments testing the impact of four different messages on the intention to ask for affiliation in the case of the workers and on the intention to file the affiliation in the case of the employers. We analysed the impact of the message alternatives on different types of workers and employers.

• "Which are the emotions behind polarization" (with Joaquín Navajas)

• "A pro-technology anti-trade bias in the perceived fairness of job losses" (with Marco Artorio & Joaquin Navajas)

Trade and technology drive long-term economic progress at the cost of producing local shocks that may include the destruction of jobs. While evidence indicates that technological changes produce similar or even greater labor market disruptions than trade, previous research has shown that people whose jobs are more vulnerable to automation paradoxically demand stronger protectionist policies. Based on this observation, we hypothesized that the impact of trade on job losses might be perceived as less acceptable than the corresponding effect of technology. To test this hypothesis, we measured how subtle modifications in the wording of a series of scenarios may modulate the perceived fairness of layoffs. We validated this methodology by performing a large-scale replication of a seminal study in behavioral economics. Despite our experiment being conducted over 30 years later and in a very different context, results were almost identical, suggesting that perceptions of fairness elicited by this method are remarkably robust. Using a new set of scenarios, we found a human bias whereby the same job losses are perceived as more acceptable if they are caused by the adoption of a novel technology compared to the implementation of a new international trade agreement. This asymmetry is still present if layoffs occur in the private or public sector, if workers are skilled or unskilled, and even if there are no net changes in unemployment. Our results show, however, that this effect vanishes if technology is framed as a public policy, suggesting that accountability plays an important role in shaping our perceptions of fairness. Overall, these findings uncover a behavioral bias that may contribute to understanding the worldwide proliferation of protectionist policies.

• "Fear Factors: Unraveling the Dynamics of Crime Perception in Latin America and the Caribbean" (with Santiago Perez Vincent & Ernesto Schargrodsky)

• "Can we trust them when they say they care?" 

Here, we present the results of an experiment in which we showed testimonies of family violence to a group of participants and analyzed the different emotional reactions between men and women.