Un análisis del comportamiento económico de los ciudadanos en los servicios de interés públicouna perspectiva de la unión europea

Abstract

This doctoral dissertation sheds light on the citizen experience in services of public interest such as banking and health. We incorporate insights from psychology into economics to explain factors related to the economic decisions of citizens and the influence of their demographics on their decision-making processes. In so doing, we first develop a theoretical framework on citizens’ engagement in ICT- enabled co-production. Second, we data from two large databases (Household Finance and Consumption Survey and Health Survey of Northern Ireland) to expand this qualitative research with quantitative approaches. Findings show strong evidence that loss aversion exists in saving behavior as regards changes in individual income. We also find strong support that motivations and demographics influence citizen participation in banking and health systems, and that this evidence is supported at the country and regional level. Finally, findings of this doctoral dissertation show that the role of governments has been crucial to enhance citizen participation in the delivery of public services. Practical application of behavioral economics to questions concerning the citizen decision- making may be considered by policymakers to tackle policy interventions in services of public interest.