JBEE–LACEA BRAIN–Tec: a day of behavioral and experimental economics

A community brought together by evidence

On October 28, 2026, the Decision Theater at Tecnológico de Monterrey’s School of Government and Public Transformation, Mixcoac site, hosted the JBEE–LACEA BRAIN–Tec Workshop. The meeting was jointly organized by the Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics, LACEA’s Behavioral Insights Network, and BEER Lab.

The day focused on behavioral and experimental economics in Latin America. Its program included thirteen papers across four sessions, addressing preference formation, cooperation, market decisions, and the role of beliefs. The photographs document both the presentations and exchanges among participants.

Organized by

Opening the workshop

Luis Serra, Dean of Research at Tecnológico de Monterrey’s School of Social Sciences and Government, delivered the introductory remarks. His opening was followed by a program combining survey experiments, laboratory designs, and field experiments.

The Decision Theater combined a large presentation screen with a shared discussion space. This combination of presentations and exchanges runs through the workshop’s photographic record.

Luis Serra, on the left, gives introductory remarks beside the Decision Theater’s screen. — Luis Serra delivers the workshop’s introductory remarks.

Information and policy preferences

The first session examined how information and the way it is presented relate to economic decisions. Raissa Fábregas’s paper asked whether impact evidence from a conditional cash transfer program can change policy preferences.

Other papers examined employment framing in trade preferences and the relationship between media outlets and consumption choices. Together, this session placed the communication of evidence and the context of decision-making at the center of the discussion.

A speaker presents beside a slide about impact evidence and policy preferences. — The first session: information, framing, and policy preferences.

A speaker presents a Sankey diagram on the Decision Theater’s screen. — A presentation on media outlets and consumption choices.

Social preferences, gender, and collaboration

The second session brought together papers on distributive decisions under imperfect information about effort, gender differences in collaborative networks and team formation, and mechanisms behind the daughter effect in Mexico.

These topics connected distributive justice and social relationships with concrete choices about collaboration. The experimental designs offered different ways to study how people assess others and decide whom to work with.

Seated participants take part in a discussion around the tables. — Questions and exchanges among participants at the Decision Theater.

Prices, uncertainty, and market decisions

The afternoon session on markets included experimental evidence from Colombia on climate ambiguity and farmers’ responses to prices. It also featured an experiment on price distortions and hoarding and a paper on fat tails in the laboratory.

Together, these topics spanned decision-making under uncertainty and questions about how markets work. The full program preserves the titles and authorship of each contribution.

A speaker presents a table projected on the room’s screen. — A presentation in the session on prices, uncertainty, and markets.

A speaker presents a slide titled Design and Predictions about an experimental market. — Experimental design and discussion of market decisions.

Education, social cognition, and beliefs

The final session addressed fiction and prosociality through a field experiment, information acquisition when others make the decision, and misperceptions of social network structure.

These contributions extended the day’s discussion to how people interpret others and form beliefs. The range of questions and methods illustrates the breadth of the behavioral and experimental agenda represented in the program.

A speaker presents a slide about information and willingness to pay. — Information and beliefs were among the topics in the final session.

A space for academic exchange

Beyond the presentations, the photographs show questions, conversations, and discussions among participants. The closing group photograph captures this collective dimension: a day for sharing research and connecting the behavioral and experimental economics community.

BEER Lab thanks the co-organizing institutions and everyone who took part. The program and its PDF versions remain available in the workshop archive.

Scenes from the workshop

A record of the opening, presentations, and academic exchanges. Select a photograph to view the complete image.

A view of the room with a speaker at the front and participants seated around the tables.

A speaker stands beside a projected table while participants listen from their desks.

A speaker exchanges with participants seated across the Decision Theater.

View the remaining photographs

A speaker discusses a projected chart beside workshop participants.

A speaker addresses participants seated around the Decision Theater.

A wide view of a presentation, with the screen and participants on both sides of the room.

A standing speaker presents a slide to workshop participants.

A speaker explains a table while participants follow the presentation from their desks.

Participants seated in the Decision Theater listen and exchange comments.

A speaker points toward a slide with a table during an afternoon session.

A standing speaker talks in front of the screen, with seated participants to his left.

A speaker presents beside a table projected on the screen.

A speaker exchanges with attendees beside the lectern and the screen.

A standing participant addresses the group during the final part of the workshop. — An exchange during the final part of the day.

Photographs supplied by BEER Lab; excluded from the open license covering the text.

Academic organization

Pablo BrañasUniversidad Loyola Andalucía · Editor-in-Chief, JBEE

Alexander ElbittarCIDE

Hernán BejaranoCIDE

Stanislao MaldonadoTecnológico de Monterrey

César MantillaPontificia Universidad Javeriana

Lina MorosUniversidad de los Andes

Program and materials

Explore the workshop archive for the papers, their authors, and the full program.

Full program ↗Program in English (PDF)

Papers included in the program

Information, framing, and policy preferences

Does Impact Evidence Affect Policy Preferences? Evidence from Mexico's Landmark CCT ProgramRaissa Fábregas
How Employment Framing Affects Trade Preferences: Evidence from Survey ExperimentsMarisol Rodríguez Chatruc, Ernesto Stein, Razvan Vlaicu, Victor Zuluaga
A Tale of Two News: The Impact of Media Outlets on Consumption ChoicesJuan Carlos Angulo, Aldo Gutiérrez-Mendieta

Social preferences, gender, and collective behavior

Distributive Decisions under Imperfect Effort Signals: A Spectator Design ExperimentOscar Torrealba-Rodríguez, Pablo Soto-Mota
Gender Differences in Collaborative NetworksValentina Ciriotto, Friederike Mengel
Gender Differences in Team FormationAntonio Cabrales, Lorenzo Ductor, Ericka Rascon Ramirez, and Ismael Rodriguez-Lara
Disentangling Mechanisms behind the Daughter Effect in Mexico: A Survey ExperimentArturo Romero Yáñez, Alberto Simpser, Pablo Ignacio Soto Mota

Prices, uncertainty, and markets

Climate Ambiguity and Farmers' Response to Prices: Experimental Evidence from ColombiaLina Restrepo-Plaza, Enrique Fatas, Margarita Gáfaro, Camilo Bohórquez-Peñuela, Alejandro Sánchez-Naranjo
Price Distortions and Hoarding: An ExperimentEdgar Castro, César Martinelli, Nicholas Brown
Fat Tails in the LabJorge D. Ramos-Mercado, Santiago Alonso-Díaz, Hernán Bejarano

Education, social cognition, and beliefs

Reading Others as Individuals: A Field Experiment on Fiction and ProsocialityJuan Ferro, José-Alberto Guerra
Belief Heterogeneity and Information Acquisition When Others Make the DecisionDario Trujano-Ochoa
Seeing Less Than There Is: Misperceptions of Social Network StructurePablo Brañas-Garza, Jaromír Kovářík, Friederike Mengel, and Mónica Vasco

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