TEODORA BONEVA

University of Cambridge
Contact Information
Faculty of Economics
Cambridge, UK, CB3 9DD
tbb25@cam.ac.uk
+ 44 770 4187132
Education
2011 2009-2010
2006-2009

Ph.D. Economics
M.Phil. Economics, distinction
B.Sc. Economics, distinction

University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
University of Mannheim

Visiting Positions
2013 (fall)
2009 (fall)

visiting student researcher

visiting student

Stanford University
University of Copenhagen

Prof. Hamish Low (supervisor)

University of Cambridge
hamish.low@econ.cam.ac.uk

Prof. B. Douglas Bernheim

Stanford University
bernheim@stanford.edu

Prof. Luigi Pistaferri

Stanford University
pista@stanford.edu

Prof. Thomas Crossley

University of Essex
tcross@essex.ac.uk

References

Research and Teaching Fields

Public Economics, Behavioural and Experimental Economics, Applied Microeconomics
Working Papers
Neighbourhood Effects in Consumption: Evidence from Disaggregated Consumption
Data
This paper identifies neighbourhood effects in consumption using the randomized
nature of the Progresa programme. Recent studies establish that the programme affects
the consumption of both eligible and neighbouring ineligible households but the
underlying mechanism of the spillovers is not fully understood. I use disaggregated
consumption data to distinguish between changes in consumption which result from
changes in neighbourhood consumption and changes in consumption which are a result
of income transfers between households. Using a flexible demand model that accounts
for total expenditure, prices and household characteristics, I find that neighbourhood
consumption has a substantial effect on household consumption choices.

Parental Socialization Effort and the Intergenerational Transmission of Risk

Preferences (with S. Alan, N. Baydar, T.F. Crossley and S. Ertac), IFS WP 13/12
We study the transmission of risk attitudes in a unique survey of mothers and children
in which both participated in an incentivized risk preference elicitation task. We
document that risk preferences are correlated between mothers and children when the
children are just 7 to 8 years old. This correlation is only present for daughters. We
show that a measure of parental involvement is a strong moderator of the association
between mothers' and daughters' risk tolerance. These findings support a role for
socialization in the intergenerational transmission of preferences that predict economic
behaviour.

Work in Progress
Ever Failed, Try Again, Succeed: Results from a Randomized Educational Intervention
on Grit (with S. Alan and S. Ertac)
This paper provides evidence on a large scale randomized educational intervention
which teaches growth mindset ideas to improve grit in childhood. The training
intervention aims to establish the concepts that intelligence is malleable through effort,
that success can be achieved with perseverance after repeated failures, and that
exerting effort on challenging tasks can be rewarding. Training is allocated randomly
at the school level and implemented by class teachers to a large number of fourth grade
students. We identify the causal impact of the training on students attitudes,
behaviours observed in a novel incentivized grit experiment and on student outcomes.
The results show that the intervention has affected students along all of these
dimensions, which suggests that grit is a malleable trait that can be affected through a
targeted intervention in the school environment.

What Drives Conspicuous Consumption? (with J. Andreoni, B. D. Bernheim, C. Exley

and J. Naecker)
There is much anecdotal evidence for conspicuous consumption the willingness to pay
for certain goods because they are expensive and therefore signal wealth, social status,
or some other desirable attribute. While some studies have attempted to gauge the
importance of conspicuous consumption using field data, that evidence is difficult to
interpret, and not sufficiently rich to permit tests of specific theories. We report the
results of an experiment in which subjects were provided with opportunities to purchase
a publicly observable good, and where the prices charged for that good depended on the
private assignment to a group. Consistent with what we call preferences for exclusivity,
we find that participants are willing to pay more for the publicly observed good when
the good is more costly for members of the other group (and hence more exclusive).
Furthermore, we provide evidence on how the results differ depending on the rule
according to which subjects are assigned into different groups.

Scholarships and Awards

2014
2014
2013
20132013
20112010
2009-10
2009
2007-10

Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET) research funding

Wrenbury Fund research funding
University of Cambridge Fieldwork Funding
German National Academic Foundation (Studienstiftung des dt. Volkes)
Teaching Prize for the Best Teaching Assistant
ESRC Doctoral Fellowship
Kate Bertram Prize for First Class Results in the M.Phil. in Economics
Haniel Foundation Postgraduate Studentship Funding
Erasmus Studentship Funding
German National Academic Foundation (Studienstiftung des dt. Volkes)

Additional Training
2015
2014
2013
2013
2012

NHH Spring School in Behavioural Economics, San Diego

Russell Sage Foundation Summer Institute on Behavioural Economics
SITE Summer Workshop on Psychology and Economics, Stanford
24th Jerusalem School in Economic Theory, IIAS
INET Summer School on Socio-economic Inequality, Chicago

Presentations
Neighbourhood Effects in Consumption: Evidence from Disaggregated Consumption
Data
2015
2015
2014
2014
2014
2013
2013
2012

European Economic Association, Mannheim, Germany (scheduled)

Royal Economics Society Annual Conference, Manchester, UK
NBER Summer Institute, Cambridge, USA
Oxford Development Economics Workshop, Oxford, UK
Public Economics Conference LAGV, Aix-en-Provence, France
Applied Microeconomics Workshop, Stanford University, USA
Development Economics Workshop, Stanford University, USA
INET Summer School on Socio-economic Inequality, Chicago, USA

Parental Socialization Effort and the Intergenerational Transmission of Risk

Preferences (with S. Alan, N. Baydar, T.F. Crossley and S. Ertac)
2013
2013
2013
2013

Behavioural Economics Workshop, Stanford University, USA

North-American ESA Conference, Santa Cruz, USA
24th Jerusalem School in Economic Theory, Israel
BEELab Workshop on Behavioural and Experimental Economics, Italy

Teaching Experience
2015
2012-3
2007

Undergraduate dissertation supervision

Microeconomics TA Teaching Prize for the Best Teaching Assistant
Quantitative Methods in Economics TA

Professional Activities
Refereeing:

American Economic Review, Fiscal Studies

Conference
organization: Initiator and organizer of Early Career Behavioural Economics

Conference
(Award from Russell Sage Foundation: $35,000)
Other Employment
2011
2008
2008

European Commission (trainee), DG for Economic and Financial Affairs

RA at the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin)
RA for Prof. Dr. Buchheim, University of Mannheim

Personal
Citizenship: German
Languages: German (native), Bulgarian (native), English (fluent),
Russian (intermediate), French (intermediate), Spanish (basic)
Computer
skills:
Stata, Matlab, Latex, Ztree