Doctoral thesis

This research project tries to produce novel insights in the literature of Development of teenagers’ behavior, from the perspective and with the methodology of economics. Bullying is a major risk factor for poor academic performance and mental health. Furthermore, it reduces the adaptation to adult roles and the integration in social environments. For these reasons, finding the determinants to social integration and combating the bullying should be a social priority.

In the project Decisions, Education, Networks and Teenagers, ran by Pablo Brañas-Garza and Antonio Cabrales, they are collecting a large sample of longitudinal data about teenagers. The data will include many characteristics of teenagers. Crucially, they will collect data on the social network of all the students. The biggest advantage with respect to the previous datasets is that they will also run neuroeconomics experiments specifically designed for teenagers.

Taking advantage of this information, the main purposes of my analysis are twofold. On the one hand, I will study which are the individual determinants (wealth, gender, BMI, belonging to a minority) to social integration. On the other hand, I will investigate how their social connections affect personal characteristics, from health-related ones (food intake, exercise), to educational aspects, as well as those affecting more standard economic variables (risk and time preferences, strategic behavior, honesty and creativity) and their decision-making skills. In contrast to previous studies, the longitudinal nature of the data will allow us to investigate whether teenagers learn and develop across ages.

This research is of a big societal importance since once we have the results, it opens the possibility for innovation in education, health and productivity. This is because we will learn about the social determinants of eating disorders, emotional health, cognitive and non-cognitive abilities. Thus, schools will have the opportunity of implementing policies that improve the results on these domains.