New Economics Papers
on Neuroeconomics
Issue of 2009‒02‒28
one paper chosen by
Daniela Raeva


  1. On the Nature, Modeling, and Neural Bases of Social Ties By Ridderinkhof, Richard; Stallen, Mirre; van Winden, Frans A.A.M.

  1. By: Ridderinkhof, Richard; Stallen, Mirre; van Winden, Frans A.A.M.
    Abstract: This paper addresses the nature, formalization, and neural bases of (affective) social ties and discusses the relevance of ties for health economics. A social tie is defined as an affective weight attached by an individual to the well-being of another individual (‘utility interdependence’). Ties can be positive or negative, and symmetric or asymmetric between individuals. Characteristic of a social tie, as conceived of here, is that it develops over time under the influence of interaction, in contrast with a trait like altruism. Moreover, a tie is not related to strategic behavior such as reputation formation but seen as generated by affective responses. A formalization is presented together with some supportive evidence from behavioral experiments. This is followed by a discussion of related psychological constructs and the presentation of suggestive neural findings, based on the existing literature. We conclude with some suggestions for future research.
    Keywords: Affect; Modeling; Neuroeconomics; Social Ties
    JEL: D01 D64 D87 H41 I10
    Date: 2008–08
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:6950&r=neu

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