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on Social Norms and Social Capital |
| By: | Bartels, Koen; Cozzi, Guido; Mantovan, Noemi |
| Abstract: | The current British Government's "Big Society" plan is based on the idea that granting more freedom to local communities and volunteers will compensate for a withdrawal of public agencies and spending. This idea is grounded on a widely held belief about the relationship between government and volunteering: a high degree of government intervention will cause a crowding out of voluntary activity. Up to now, however, the crowding out hypothesis has hardly been supported by any empirical evidence or solid theoretical foundations. We develop a simple theoretical model to predict how fiscal policy affects the individual decision to volunteer or not. The predictions of the model are tested through the econometric analysis of two survey data sets, and interpretative analysis of narratives of local volunteers and public officials. Contrary to conventional wisdom, our results suggest that volunteering, by the individuals in the actively working population, declines when government intervention is decreased. |
| Keywords: | Volunteering; Labor Supply; Public Goods; Altruism. |
| JEL: | H31 H41 I38 J22 D64 |
| Date: | 2011–03–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:29730&r=soc |
| By: | Alexia Gaudeul (Graduate School "Human Behavior in Social and Economic Change" (GSBC), Friedrich Schiller University, Jena); Caterina Giannetti (Graduate School "Human Behavior in Social and Economic Change" (GSBC), Friedrich Schiller University, Jena) |
| Abstract: | This paper deals with the role of reciprocation in the formation of individuals' social networks, that is to what extent initiating a relation brings about its reciprocation. Following the activity of a panel of bloggers over more than a year, we seek to establish whether bloggers are mainly involved in social networking or are part of the media industry. We adapt a standard capital investment model to study the effect of reciprocation on the building of social capital. Results of our analysis confirm that activity and reciprocation both play a role in the dynamics of social media. |
| Keywords: | Bloggers, Friendship, LiveJournal, Media, Panel Data, Reciprocation, Reci procity, Social Capital, Social Media, Social Networks |
| JEL: | C33 D85 L82 |
| Date: | 2011–03–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2011-015&r=soc |
| By: | Ermisch, John (University of Essex); Gambetta, Diego (University of Oxford) |
| Abstract: | We employ a behavioural measure of trustworthiness obtained from an experiment carried out with a sample of the general British population whose individuals were extensively interviewed on earlier occasions. These previous interviews allow us to have very good income measures, and in particular to construct a measure of relative income that uses past income as a reference point. Our basic finding is that given past income, higher current income increases trustworthiness and, given current income, higher past income reduces trustworthiness. Past income determines the level of financial aspirations and whether or not these are fulfilled by the level of current income affects trustworthiness. But past income has a disproportionately large effect on trustworthiness compared to that predicted by the relative income theory, and this leads us to suspect that past income may also capture heterogeneity in relevant subjects’ dispositions, with more opportunistic subjects being less trustworthy and having higher average incomes. We suggest and estimate a two-tier model in which relative income has the same positive effect within each past income class, but people in higher past income classes have a lower fundamental levels of trustworthiness. |
| Keywords: | trustworthiness, relative income |
| JEL: | C93 D10 |
| Date: | 2011–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5585&r=soc |
| By: | Becker, Sascha O. (University of Warwick); Boeckh, Katrin (Osteuropa-Institut, Regensburg (OEI)); Hainz, Christa (Ifo Institute for Economic Research); Woessmann, Ludger (Ifo Institute for Economic Research) |
| Abstract: | Do empires affect attitudes towards the state long after their demise? We hypothesize that the Habsburg Empire with its localized and well-respected administration increased citizens' trust in local public services. In several Eastern European countries, communities on both sides of the long-gone Habsburg border have been sharing common formal institutions for a century now. Identifying from individuals living within a restricted band around the former border, we find that historical Habsburg affiliation increases current trust and reduces corruption in courts and police. Falsification tests of spuriously moved borders, geographic and pre-existing differences, and interpersonal trust corroborate a genuine Habsburg effect. |
| Keywords: | Habsburg Empire, trust, corruption, institutions, borders |
| JEL: | N33 N34 D73 Z10 |
| Date: | 2011–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5584&r=soc |
| By: | Volk, Stefan; Thoeni, Christian; Ruigrok, Winfried |
| Abstract: | A core element of economic theory is the assumption of stable preferences. We test this assumption in public goods games by repeatedly eliciting cooperation preferences in a fixed subject pool over a period of five months. We find that cooperation preferences are very stable at the aggregate level, but less so at the individual level. Nevertheless, individual preferences are sufficiently stable to predict future behavior fairly accurately. Our results also provide evidence on the psychological foundations of cooperation preferences. The personality dimension 'Agreeableness' is closely related to both the type and the stability of cooperation preferences. |
| Keywords: | Social preferences, preference stability, conditional cooperation, free riding, personality, Big-Five. |
| JEL: | C91 C72 H41 |
| Date: | 2011–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:usg:econwp:2011:01&r=soc |
| By: | Yazhen Gong |
| Abstract: | Paying developing countries for carbon sequestration is a vital component of climate change mitigation. If appropriately designed, these payments can also transfer income to poor villagers, which can help achieve the goals of long-term sustainability for the carbon sequestration project and of poverty reduction. Using data on reforestation and a survey of village stakeholders, this paper made an assessment whether or not the world's first CDM forest-based carbon sequestration project implemented in China could simultaneously reach its environmental and developmental objectives. Although the Guangxi project is widely heralded as a model CDM project, still less than half of the project land remain unforested at the time of surveys conducted in September of 2007. The survey revealed one major cause to relatively low participation to the carbon project, highlights the important role of social capital in this initiative. |
| Keywords: | CDM, China |
| Date: | 2010–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eep:tpaper:tp201010t2&r=soc |
| By: | Antonella Mennella |
| Abstract: | This paper’s purpose is to show a new informal social networks interpretation, according to which social networks change their nature if they are located in social contexts where organised crime is relevant. Here the perusal of a social network is just a necessary condition to enter the labour market rather than a deliberate choice. Moreover this labour market is the ground where favouritisms and social and electoral consensus policies take place. |
| Keywords: | social networks, organised crime, labour market |
| JEL: | D85 J64 K00 |
| Date: | 2011–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rtr:wpaper:126&r=soc |
| By: | Gil S. Epstein (Department of Economics, Bar Ilan University); Ira N. Gang (Rutgers University) |
| Abstract: | Culture is not new to the study of migration. It has lurked beneath the surface for some time, occasionally protruding openly into the discussion, usually under some pseudonym. The authors bring culture into the open. They are concerned with how culture manifests itself in the migration process for three groups of actors: the migrants, those remaining in the sending areas, and people already living in the recipient locations. The topics vary widely. What unites the authors is an understanding that though actors behave differently, within a group there are economically important shared beliefs (customs, values, attitudes, etc.), which we commonly refer to as culture. Culture and identify play a central role in our understanding of migration as an economic phenomenon; but what about them matters? Properly, we should be looking at the determinants of identity and the determinants of culture (prices and incomes, broadly defined). But this is not what is done. Usually identity and culture appear in economics articles as a black box. Here we try to begin to break open the black box. |
| Date: | 2010–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:biu:wpaper:2010-17&r=soc |
| By: | Frédéric Docquier (FNRS and IRES, Université Catholique de Louvain); Elisabetta Lodigiani (CREA, Université du Luxembourg; and Centro Studi Luca d'Agliano); Hillel Rapoport (CID, Harvard University; Bar-Ilan University; and EQUIPPE); Maurice Schiff (World Bank, Development Economics Research Group) |
| Abstract: | Migration is an important and yet neglected determinant of institutions. The paper documents the channels through which emigration affects home country institutions and considers dynamic-panel regressions for a large sample of developing countries. We fi nd that emigration and human capital both increase democracy and economic freedom. This implies that unskilled (skilled) emigration has a positive (ambiguous) impact on institutional quality. Simulations show an impact of skilled emigration that is generally positive, signi cant for a few countries in the short run and for many countries in the long run once incentive effects of emigration on human capital formation are accounted for. |
| Keywords: | Migration, institutions, democracy, diaspora effects, brain drain. |
| JEL: | O1 F22 |
| Date: | 2011–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:biu:wpaper:2011-02&r=soc |
| By: | Joffily, Mateus (CNRS); Masclet, David (University of Rennes); Noussair, Charles N. (Tilburg University); Villeval, Marie Claire (CNRS, GATE) |
| Abstract: | We use skin conductance responses and self-reports of hedonic valence to study the emotional basis of cooperation and punishment in a social dilemma. Emotional reaction to free-riding incites individuals to apply sanctions when they are available. The application of sanctions activates a "virtuous emotional circle" that accompanies cooperation. Emotionally aroused cooperators relieve negative emotions when they punish free riders. In response, the free-riders experience negative emotions when punished, and increase their subsequent level of cooperation. The outcome is an increased level of contribution that becomes the new standard or norm. For a given contribution level, individuals attain higher levels of satisfaction when sanctioning institutions are in place. |
| Keywords: | emotions, sanctions, cooperation, experiment, skin conductance responses |
| JEL: | C92 D62 D63 D64 D74 |
| Date: | 2011–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5592&r=soc |
| By: | Giulio Cainelli (Università di Padova); Mario Maggioni (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore); Erika Uberti (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore); Annunziata De Felice (Università degli Studi di Bari) |
| Abstract: | Increased specialization and extensive collaboration are common behaviours in the scientific community, as well as the evaluation of scientific research based on bibliometric indicators. This paper aims to analyse the effect of collaboration (co-authorship) on the scientific output of Italian economists. We use Social Network Analysis to investigate the structure of co-authorship, and econometric methodologies to explain the productivity of individual Italian economists, in terms of "attributional" variables (such as age, gender, academic position, tenure, scientific sub-discipline, geographical location, etc.), "relational" variables (such as propensity to cooperate and the stability of cooperation patterns) and "positional" variables (such as betweenness and closeness centrality indexes and clustering coefficients). |
| Keywords: | co-authorship, scientific productivity, Italian economists, social network analysis. |
| JEL: | I23 I28 J24 |
| Date: | 2010–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pad:wpaper:0125&r=soc |