SANDRA POLANÍA-REYES

Ph.D. Economics, Job Market candidate

University College London
Curriculum Vitae
(July 2015)

University of Siena
Advisors: Luigi Luini and Sam Bowles
Piazza S. Francesco, 7, Siena 53100

University College London
Advisors: Syngjoo Choi and Orazio Attanasio
Drayton House, 30 Gordon Street, London WC1H 0AX
E-mail: sandra.polania-reyes.09@ucl.ac.uk

Research in Progress

Disentangling Social Capital: Lab-in-the-Field Evidence on Coordination, Cooperation and
Networks

In 2008, I conducted an artefactual field experiment in which 714 beneficiaries of a Conditional
Cash Transfer program in Colombia took part in a ‘Weak-link’ Coordination game and Public Goods
game with communication. I examine the role of the program on six dimensions of social capital
(ability to coordinate, willingness to cooperate, membership in organizations, volunteerism,
connectivity and positive leadership).

Leading by non-example: do leader’s social preferences matter for cooperation? Experimental
evidence from Colombia
In 2014, I conducted an artefactual field experiment with 500 beneficiaries of a CCT in Colombia
and examine whether how powerful leaders are determines their decision to free ride and the
relationship between individual willingness to cooperate and the presence of an empowered leader in the group.

Prosocial behavior, Heterogeneity and Incentives: Experimental evidence from the local commons
in Colombia.
I examine efficiency of incentives according to the composition of social preferences’ types in the
groups with 1095 participants.

Structural identification of social preferences: evidence from the local commons in Colombia. With
David Echeverry (UC Berkeley-Haas)
We identify individuals’ types by using a structural finite mixtures model and compare the results
with the structural parameters estimated from a Quantal Response Equilibrium model.

Work pays: different benefits of a workfare program in Colombia. With O. Attanasio, Costas
Meguir (Yale), Marcos Vera-Hernandez (UCL) and Arthur Alik (Toulouse School of Economics).
We examine the effects of a workfare program in Colombia by using different econometric methods.

Darwin in the experimental lab: between and within group competition effects on human behaviour. I examine the effect of between group and within group competition by using a Public Goods game
we conducted in 2007 with the sample of Cardenas, et al. 2008 (above)

Parental generosity and early child development: an experimental approach. I design an economic experiment to measure parents’ willingness to invest in their children’s human capital.

Crowding effects of incentives on Giving: the role of private information. With JC Cárdenas.

Previous Projects

Prosocial behavior and incentives - March 2008 to March 2012
With Sam Bowles.

Measuring Social Capital in the Field: coordination and cooperation with economic experiments. With Syngjoo Choi and Orazio Attanasio.
Phase I: July 2007. Financed by the Corporación Andina de Fomento – CAF.
Phase II:July 2008. Financed by the Institute for Fiscal Studies, University College of London

Building Trust for Good Governance: Field Experiments in Latin America - January – July 2007
Project RG-T1258. Financed by the Latin American Research Network, BID.
With Juan Camilo Cárdenas, Hugo Ñopo and Alberto Chong and Natalia Candelo.

The Dynamics of Rules in Commons Dilemmas - July 2004 – July 2007
Financed by the University of Arizona (BCS 0432894)
With Marco A. Janssen, Arizona State University, Elinor Ostrom, Robert Goldstone and Filippo Menczer, Indiana University; and Francois Bousquet, CIRAD (France); Juan Camilo Cardenas, Universidad de los Andes (Colombia).

Discrimination in the Provision of Social Services to the Poor: A Field Experimental Study - March – Dec. 2006
Financed by the Latin American Research Network, Discrimination and Economic Outcomes, IADB.
With Juan Camilo Cárdenas, Alejandro Gaviria, Rajiv Sethi and Natalia Candelo.

Using experimental games to investigate social networks in rural Colombia - January – February 2006
With Orazio Attanasio, Abigail Barr and Juan Camilo Cárdena and Natalia Candelo