DONDENA Seminar - Eugenio Proto

Using data from a unique, representative survey of parents and children conducted in Luxembourg in 2021, we examine cross-rater divergence in the assessment of children’s socio-emotional health. We find that parents systematically underestimate their children’s socio-emotional problems compared to children’s self-reports, with this underestimation being more pronounced in situations where parent-child conflict is more likely. These findings are replicated using representative datasets from the UK and Australia. To investigate whether this bias stems from parents consciously discounting their children’s reports or from unintentional misjudgment, we collect an additional dataset that includes parents’ second-order beliefs—i.e., their predictions of their children’s self-assessments—alongside their own evaluations. We find that parents who accurately predict their children’s reports also tend to provide assessments that are closer to their children’s self-evaluations. Furthermore, assessment discrepancies are greater when children report higher levels of distress, suggesting that parental misjudgment is most pronounced when children are most in need of support. Finally, we conduct a survey experiment to examine whether informing parents about this mismatch influences their perceptions. Our results suggest that when parents’ prior beliefs align with the observed overestimation pattern, they are more likely to revise their assessments accordingly. 

Eugenio Proto is the Alec Cairncross Chair of Applied Economics and Econometrics at the University of Glasgow's Adam Smith Business School and co-director of the Msc (Master) in Behavioral Science. He's Research Fellow of the 3 main European networks of economists: the Center for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), IZA - Institute of Labor Economics and CESifo. His research primarily focuses on Behavioral and Experimental Economics, especially on the role of intelligence, personality, and psychological well-being on economics decisions. Eugenio has published several peer-reviewed articles in leading and top economic journals and renowned scientific outlets. His work has captured the attention of international newspapers and magazines. Eugenio completed his Ph.D. in Economics at ECARES, Université libre de Bruxelles in 2004.