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This analysis can discover what would happen if New World wines are marketed in bulk in Spain and how to increase exports of Spanish wines to the United States is expected to be the leading consumer of wine in the world within a few years.

Tiziana de Magistris, project, work is underway with Etienne de Groot, Dr. Azucena Gracia and Dr. Luis Miguel Albisu, Unit of Agrifood Economics and Natural Resources of CITA, and with the advice of Dr. Rudy Nayga the University of Arkansas, United States.

Early results show that Spanish consumers primarily value D. Designation of Origin O. and the suitability of wine with dinner to the accompanying, while giving little attention to the label. In addition, these consumers are buying less than positive attitude towards the wines of “New World.” American consumers as a whole, have as their main reference for choosing a wine, which have previously tested, the type of grape variety and price.

At work we have investigated the buying behavior and personal characteristics of consumers in both countries, which has segments in different profiles.

In Spain it is worth noting two quite distinct consumer groups by age and education. The first is a higher proportion of young people with little knowledge about wine. Appreciate that the wine comes from a D. O. and suitability with food that is going to accompany. The other segment consists of adult men with low levels of education, but with a high level of knowledge about wine. This segment values the label, the suitability of wine with dinner for accompanying and had tasted before.

In the United States study has focused on the generation called “Millennials (under 35 years) as it is considered that this group has a significant purchasing power and increased consumption of wine to the rest of the population.

The work is being conducted on a sample of 380 consumers in both countries with a novel methodological approach based on choice experiments and the use of scales “Best-Worst”. Consumers in the city of Zaragoza has been taken as representative of Spanish consumers and consumers in the city of Fayetteville, Arkansas, as representative of American consumers.

The use of experimental techniques in economics in recent years has uncovered evidence about the decision of the people, who are guided not only for its own sake but also for the material gains that may have other individuals in their social network. Out of envy, in short.

But in this research framework was still a challenge: to discover the evolutionary origin of envy in theory and test the possible effects of the same in business. And that is what has sought to make the Professor of the Department of Economics UC3M, Antonio Cabrales, a new study, published recently in series, the journal of the Spanish Economic Association.

The concept of envy as used in this study is known technically as “inequity aversion.” That is, individuals are willing to spend all kinds of resources (money, effort, etc) in order to reduce the prosperity gap material to other individuals.

The result of a competition for limited resources?

This article presents scientific envy as something that is a result of competition for limited resources. “What is shown in the article is that there are powerful evolutionary reasons for us to be envious and, therefore, that we coded in the genes,” said Professor Antonio Cabrales.

Under this scenario, the envy may be due to the fact that the resources obtained in the workplace, for example, are used after some kind of interpersonal conflict, as in getting the best partner or dominance the herd. In these cases, it is important to have accumulated more resources than the opposite, so that victory would depend not only have much, but have more than anyone else.

“For this – continues the economist – it is important that education and training corrected some trends potentially disastrous consequences for the individual and the group, as we do from the biblical Ten Commandments to Shakespeare’s Othello,” he recalls.

The thickest part of this study is theoretical techniques have been used in game theory applied to problems of interpersonal and intertemporal decision raised. On the other hand, has also conducted an experimental part to analyze the effects of envy in real subjects.

To do this, put a group of undergraduate students in a computer lab to make decisions that have specific monetary impact on themselves and on others simultaneously. Finally, research has deepened the analysis of data on labor markets, trying to discern how it affects different variables envy contractual wage movements between companies, etc.

One of the things that point in the study is that many labor market phenomena that are easier to understand once one considers envy. For example, internal promotions or workers’ wage fans are more compressed in companies would be expected if they simply consider the productivity of individuals.

“The effects of envy – indicates Cabrales – can be seen in the compression of wage scales in promotions slower than it would be advisable for reasons of efficiency and that the drop in the company of people of higher skills can have serious in those who remain, “he concludes.