Marcela Jaime recently defended her thesis: Essays on behavioral Economics and Policy Design. What it is about?SkiptomaincontentHomeNews&eventsNewsTheimportanceofaccountingforspillovereffectsinpolicydesignTheimportanceofaccountingforspillovereffectsinpolicydesignMarcelaJaimerecentlydefendedherthesis:EssaysonbehavioralEconomicsandPolicyDesign.Whatitisabout?Mythesisisaboutunintendedeffectsofbehavioralandpolicyinterventionsanditseffectsonpolicydesign.Unintendedeffectsofpolicies,eitherpositiveornegative,areoftenreferredtoasspillovereffects.Specifically,mythesisinvestigatesspillovereffectsofmonetaryandnon-monetarypolicyinstrumentsforenvironmentandnaturalresourcemanagement,inbothdevelopinganddevelopedsettings.ThefirsttwochaptersinvestigatespillovereffectsofabehavioralinterventionaimedatresidentialwatersavingsinColombia.Becausethereislittleroomforpricereformandwaterpricesarehighlysubsidized,theinterventionreliesontheuseofnon-monetaryincentivessuchasprovisionofsocialinformation.Thefirstchapterfocusesonspillovereffectsduetosocialinteractionswithinthespecificareaofwateruse. Thesecondchapteridentifiesbehavioralspilloveracrossdifferentareasofconsumption(i.e.fromwatertoelectricityuse),thatarepotentiallydrivenbypersonalmotivations.Thethirdpaperfocusesonmonetaryincentives,andinvestigatespolicyspilloversresultingfromtheinteractionofsubsidiesinEUagriculture,beforeandaftertheintroductionofthe2003reformoftheCommonAgriculturalPolicy(CAP).ThesubsidiesunderstudycorrespondtothemainpillarsoftheCAP,whichaccountforthemonetarysupportdevotedtoagriculturalandagri-environmentalpolicyintheEU.Althoughthereisconsensusregardingtheeconomicimportanceofhavingbothsubsidiesinplace,thereisaconcernthattheirinteractionmayweakentheadoptionofsustainablepractices,affectingenvironmentalgoals.Whatdoyouthinkarethemostinterestingfindings?Overall,thethesishighlightstheimportanceoftakingspillovereffectsintoaccount.Thisisimportantbecausespillovereffectsmakeitdifficulttoevaluatepoliciesthatweredesignedtotargetaparticu