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on Social Norms and Social Capital |
| By: | Angelo Antoci (Università di Sassari); Fabio Sabatini (Università di Siena); Mauro Sodini (Università di Pisa) |
| Abstract: | We develop a dynamic model to analyze the sources and the evolution of social participation and social capital in a growing economy characterized by exogenous technical progress. Starting from the assumption that the well-being of agents basically depends on material and relational goods, we show that the best-case scenarios hold when technology and social capital both support just one of the two productions at the expenses of the other. However, trajectories are possible where technology and social interaction balance one another in fostering the growth of both the social and the private sector of the economy. Along such tracks, technology may play a crucial role in supporting a “socially sustainable” economic growth. |
| Keywords: | Technology, Economic Growth, Relational Goods, Social Participation, Social Capital |
| JEL: | O33 J22 O41 Z13 |
| Date: | 2010–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2010.100&r=soc |
| By: | Bruno S. Frey (University of Basel) |
| Abstract: | Over the last decades, empirical research on subjective well-being in the social<br />sciences has provided a major new stimulus to the discourse on individual happiness.<br />Recently this research has also been linked to economics where reported subjective wellbeing<br />is often taken as a proxy measure for individual welfare. In our review, we intend to<br />provide an evaluation of where the economic research on happiness stands and of three<br />directions it might develop. First, it offers new ways for testing the basic assumptions of the<br />economic approach and for going about a new understanding of utility. Second, it provides a<br />new possibility for the complementary testing of theories across fields in economics. Third,<br />we inquire how the insights gained from the study of individual happiness in economics affect<br />public policy.<br />Keywords: Economics, happiness, life satisfaction, survey data, income, public goods,<br />unemployment<br />JEL Classifications: A10, D60, H41, I31 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bsl:wpaper:04/10&r=soc |
| By: | Daniel Houser (George Mason University); Stefan Vetter (University of Munich); Joachim Winter (University of Munich) |
| Abstract: | We present evidence from a laboratory experiment showing that individuals who believe they were treated unfairly in an interaction with another person are more likely to cheat in a subsequent unrelated game. Specifically, subjects first participated in a dictator game. They then flipped a coin in private and reported the outcome. Subjects could increase their total payoff by cheating, i.e., lying about the outcome of the coin toss. We found that subjects were more likely to cheat in reporting the outcome of the coin flip when: 1) they received either nothing or a very small transfer from the dictator; and 2) they claimed to have been treated unfairly. This is consistent with the view that experiencing a norm violation is sufficient to justify the violation of another norm at the expense of a third party. This result extends the growing literature on social norms. |
| Keywords: | cheating; social norms; experimental design |
| JEL: | C91 D63 |
| Date: | 2010–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:trf:wpaper:335&r=soc |
| By: | Anandya, Dudi |
| Abstract: | The Internet has enabled people to connect to each other, regardless of time and space. This lead to a new phenomena, known as social networking through social network sites such Facebook, and Friendster. In social network sites members find new kinds of exchange, which is information exchange. Membership in many social network sites are free, which means that everyone is free to join or leave it. In that case social network providers must ensure that members keep using their site. Exchange has been known as subject matter in marketing. Exchange will lead to customer loyalty through value creation. This paper will show that exchange has direct impact to loyalty. The community based theory has been shown that if community members keep exchange activity, they will loyal to the community. The author will focus on friendship based communities such as Facebook. |
| Keywords: | Exchange; Value; Community; Social Network Site |
| JEL: | M3 |
| Date: | 2010–04–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:25277&r=soc |
| By: | Damiano Fiorillo (-) |
| Abstract: | The paper empirically investigates if individuals who supply volunteer work are more satisfied with three domain satisfactions - leisure, friends' relationships and economic situation – than nonvolunteers. Using Istat's (Italian Central Statistical Office) Multiscopo data set for the period 1993- 2000, it finds that volunteer labour supplied in official volunteer service association is positively correlated with leisure satisfaction, friends' relationships satisfaction and economic situation satisfaction. These findings are interpreted as an indication that the benefits from volunteering are a combination of the following reasons: i) intrinsic motivation; ii) extrinsic motivation; iii) relational goods. |
| Keywords: | volunteering, intrinsic and extrinsic motivations, relational goods, domain satisfactions, Multiscopo. |
| JEL: | C21 C25 D71 I31 Z10 |
| Date: | 2010–09–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:prt:dpaper:6_2010&r=soc |
| By: | Joshua C. Hall (Department of Economics and Management, Beloit College); Russell S. Sobel (Department of Economics, West Virginia University); George R. Crowley (Department of Economics, West Virginia University) |
| Abstract: | The international development community has encouraged investment in physical and human capital as a precursor to economic progress. Recent evidence shows, however, that increases in capital do not always lead to increases in output. We develop a growth model where the allocation and productivity of capital depends on a country's institutions. We find that increases in physical and human capital lead to output growth only in countries with good institutions. In countries with bad institutions, increases in capital lead to negative growth rates because additions to the capital stock tend to be employed in rent-seeking and other socially unproductive activities. |
| Keywords: | Institutions, Capital, and Growth |
| JEL: | B53 O10 I2 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wvu:wpaper:10-15&r=soc |
| By: | Kirsten Häger (School of Economics and Business Administration, Friedrich Schiller University Jena) |
| Abstract: | Envy and altruism have been studied extensively in adults. Here, we report data from an experiment studying envious and altruistic behavior in children. We study a sample of German school children aged seven to ten in a natural setting. We run two treatments. One treatment investigates envy, the other one studies altruism. Additionally, we collect data on the children's cognitive and social skills, and on their socio-demographic background. Controlling for these factors, we find that older children are significantly more altruistic. Boys care more about their relative position than girls. Socio-demographic information have limited predictive power in both treatments. |
| Keywords: | artefactual field experiment, children, envy, altruism |
| JEL: | C91 C99 |
| Date: | 2010–09–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2010-063&r=soc |
| By: | Arghyrou, Michael G (Cardiff Business School) |
| Abstract: | We present a simple model explaining corruption on geography and climate conditions. We test the model's validity in a cross-section of 115 countries. Controlling for all other corruption's determinants we find evidence supporting the model's predictions. Corruption increases with temperature and declines with precipitation and non-cultivatable land. Corruption also declines with per capita GDP, democracy, median age and British colonial heritage; and increases with natural resources, bureaucracy and communist past. Finally, corruption declines with the ratio of internet users to total population. This new finding is interpreted as capturing the beneficial interaction of economic development, human capital/education and independent news. |
| Keywords: | individualism; fairness; corruption; geography and climate conditions |
| JEL: | D73 H11 |
| Date: | 2010–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdf:wpaper:2010/8&r=soc |
| By: | Elena Costantino (Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei); Maria Paola Marchello (Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei); Cecilia Mezzano (Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei) |
| Abstract: | The increased interconnection among local and global players induced by globalization, as well as the need for a complete application of the “subsidiarity principle”, calls for a re-thinking of the “corporate social responsibility” concept. This new concept broadens the perspective of the single company interacting with its own stakeholders in relation to specific social and environmental impacts, to a network of organizations, with different aims and natures, collaborating on relevant sustainability issues. In this paper, the authors will provide a definition of “Territorial Social Responsibility”, sustaining the multi-stakeholder approach as a driver toward local sustainable development. Firstly, theoretical approaches to sustainable development at the territorial level will be examined, identifying the most innovative ideas about governance, network relation and development theories. The idea of development focuses not only on the economic aspects, but on the structural and institutional factors. The existence of cooperative territorial networks is essential to fulfil the creation of tangible and intangible assets at the local level. At the same time, the effectiveness of the decision-making and rules’ system can stimulate and empower territorial networks to tackle sustainable development. An analytical framework, scheme-shaped, will be set in order to identify the main aspects, indicators and practices characterizing the territorial social responsibility concept. It will represent a first attempt to create a feasible instrument aimed at understanding how cooperative social responsible actors, operating in the same territory, could direct the path toward sustainable development. |
| Keywords: | Local Sustainable Development, Territorial Social Responsibility, Participation, Local Governance, Accountability, Sustainability Reporting, Multi-Stakeholder Approach, Networks |
| JEL: | M14 O10 |
| Date: | 2010–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2010.109&r=soc |
| By: | Martin Dufwenberg; Simon Gaechter; Heike Hennig-Schmidt |
| Abstract: | Psychological game theory can provide rational-choice-based framing effects; frames influence beliefs, beliefs influence motivations. We explain this theoretically and explore empirical relevance experimentally. In a 2×2 design of one-shot public good games we show that frames affect subject’s first- and second-order beliefs, and contributions. From a psychological gametheoretic framework we derive two mutually compatible hypotheses about guilt aversion and reciprocity under which contributions are related to second- and first-order beliefs, respectively. Our results are consistent with either. |
| Keywords: | framing, psychological game theory, guilt aversion, reciprocity, public good games, voluntary cooperation |
| JEL: | C91 C72 D64 Z13 |
| Date: | 2010–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bon:bonedp:bgse15_2010&r=soc |
| By: | Russell S. Sobel (Department of Economics, West Virginia University); Nabamita Dutta (Department of Economics, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse); Sanjukta Roy (Department of Economics, West Virginia University) |
| Abstract: | In the economic development literature, cultural diversity (for example, ethnolinguistic fractionalization) has been shown to have a negative impact on economic outcomes in many underdeveloped countries. We hypothesize that the impact of diversity on economic performance depends on the quality of a country's institutions. Under bad institutions diversity leads to conflict and expropriation, while under good institutions diversity leads to economic progress. A culturally diverse society or interaction among different cultures encourages exchange of, and competition between ideas and different world views. Under good institutions, this amalgamation of ideas and views leads to greater entrepreneurial initiatives. We show that higher levels of cultural diversity increase the rate of entrepreneurship in the presence of good institutions using evidence from the United States. |
| Keywords: | Cultural Diversity; Entrepreneurship |
| JEL: | L26 P12 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wvu:wpaper:10-12&r=soc |
| By: | Woolcock, Michael; Szreter, Simon; Rao, Vijayendra |
| Abstract: | The consensus among scholars and policymakers that"institutions matter"for development has led inexorably to a conclusion that"history matters,"since institutions clearlyform and evolve over time. Unfortunately, however, the next logical step has not yet been taken, which is to recognize that historians (and not only economic historians) might also have useful and distinctive insights to offer. This paper endeavors to open and sustain a constructive dialogue between history -- understood as both"the past"and"the discipline"-- and development policy by (a) clarifying what the craft of historical scholarship entails, especially as it pertains to understanding causal mechanisms, contexts, and complex processes of institutional change; (b) providing examples of historical research that support, qualify, or challenge the most influential research (by economists and economic historians) in contemporary development policy; and (c) offering some general principles and specific implications that historians, on the basis of the distinctive content and method of their research, bring to development policy debates. |
| Keywords: | Cultural Policy,Economic Theory&Research,Population Policies,Cultural Heritage&Preservation,Development Economics&Aid Effectiveness |
| Date: | 2010–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:5425&r=soc |