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on Social Norms and Social Capital |
| By: | Dang, Anh |
| Abstract: | I investigate the origins of social trust within Vietnam. Combining a unique contemporary survey of households with historic data on climate variation, I show that individuals who were heavily threatened by negative climate fluctuation exhibit more trust in neighbors and other people in close group. The evidence indicates that the effects of climate variation on social trust transmitted through strengthening the cooperation among village peasants in coping with risk and uncertainty. The results also indicate that households with higher proportion of agricultural incomes tend to rely more on village members in the case of emergency. However, the increased village relationship does not erode family ties. |
| Keywords: | Climate variation; social trust; Vietnam |
| JEL: | O13 Z13 Q54 |
| Date: | 2011–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:36285&r=soc |
| By: | Fei Song (Ted Rogers School of Management, Ryerson University); C. Bram Cadsby (Department of Economics, University of Guelph); Yunyun Bi (Taiping Asset Management, Shanghai, China) |
| Abstract: | We examine the influence of social distance on levels of trust and reciprocity in China. Social distance, reflected in the indigenous concept of guanxi, is of central importance to Chinese culture. In Study 1, some participants participated in two financially salient trust games to measure behavior, one with an anonymous classmate and the other with an anonymous, demographically identical nonclassmate. Other participants, drawn from the same population, completed hypothetical surveys to gauge both hypothetical behavior and expectations of others. Social distance effects on actual and hypothetical behavior were statistically consistent. The results together corroborated the hypothesized negative relationship between trust and social distance. However, reciprocity was not responsive to social distance. Study 2 found that affect-based trust, but not cognition-based trust, played a mediating role in the relationship between social distance and interpersonal trust in a hypothetical scenario. We conclude that close guanxi ties in China engender affect-based trust, which is extended to shouren classmates. This is true despite the fact that no more cognition-based trust is placed nor reciprocity received or expected from classmates compared to demographically identical shengren nonclassmates. |
| Keywords: | Experiment; Affect-based Trust; China; Guano; Reciprocity; Trust; Social Distance |
| JEL: | C91 D03 D69 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gue:guelph:2012-04.&r=soc |
| By: | BARTOLINI Stefano; BILANCINI Ennio |
| Abstract: | We investigate the relationship between social participation and the hours worked in the market. Social participation is the component of social capital that measures individuals’ engagement in groups, associations and non-governmental organizations. We provide a model of consumer choice where social participation may be either a substitute or a complement to material consumption – depending on whether participation is instrumentally or non-instrumentally motivated – and where a local environment with greater social participation increases the return to individual participation. We carry out an empirical investigation of this framework using survey data on United States for the period 1972-2004. We find that non-instrumental social participation substantially decreases the hours worked, while instrumental social participation substantially increases them. Moreover, evidence is consistent with the idea that a local environment with greater social participation fosters individual social participation. |
| Keywords: | social participation; relational goods; social capital; work hours; instrumental and non-instrumental motivations |
| JEL: | A13 D62 J22 Z13 |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:irs:cepswp:2011-64&r=soc |
| By: | BARTOLINI Stefano; MIKUCKA Malgorzata; SARRACINO Francesco |
| Abstract: | The evolution over time of subjective well-being (SWB) in transition countries exhibit some peculiarities: greater variations which are more strongly correlated with the trends of GDP relative to other countries. What is the possible role of social trust in predicting such variations? We compare the capacity of the trends of GDP and of social trust to predict the trends of SWB. We find that the strength of the relationship between social trust and SWB over the medium-term is comparable to that of GDP. Our conclusion is that in the medium-term, even in countries considered as an extreme case of relevance of material concerns for well-being, social trust is a powerful predictor of the evolution over time of SWB. However, in the short run the relationship between social trust and SWB does not hold and GDP stands out as the only significant correlate of SWB. |
| Keywords: | Easterlin paradox; GDP; economic growth; subjective well-being; happiness; life satisfaction; social capital; time-series; short run; transition countries |
| JEL: | D03 D60 I31 O10 P27 P50 |
| Date: | 2012–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:irs:cepswp:2012-04&r=soc |
| By: | BARTOLINI Stefano; SARRACINO Francesco |
| Abstract: | What does predict the evolution over time of subjective well-being? We answer this question correlating cross country time series of subjective well-being with the time series of social capital and/or GDP. First, we adopt a bivariate methodology similar to the one used used by Stevenson and Wolfers (2008), Sacks et al. (2010), Easterlin and Angelescu (2009), Easterlin et al. (2010). We find that in the long (at least 15 years) and medium run (6 years) social capital is a powerful predictor of the evolution of subjective well-being. In the short-term (2 years) this relationship weakens. Indeed, short run changes in social capital predict a much smaller portion of the changes in subjective well-being, compared to longer periods. GDP follows a reverse path: in the short run it is more positively correlated to the changes in well-being than in the medium-term, while in the long run the correlation vanishes. Moreover, we run trivariate regressions of time series of subjective well-being on time series of both social capital and GDP, which confirm the results from bivariate analysis. |
| Keywords: | Easterlin paradox; GDP; economic growth; subjective well-being; happiness; life satisfaction; social capital; time-series; short run; medium run |
| JEL: | D03 D60 I31 O10 |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:irs:cepswp:2011-60&r=soc |
| By: | Kocher, Martin G.; Martinsson, Peter; Myrseth, Kristian Ove R.; Wollbrant, Conny |
| Abstract: | We develop a model relating self-control, risk preferences and conflict identification to cooperation patterns in social dilemmas. We subject our model to data from an experimental public goods game and a risk experiment, and we measure conflict identification and self-control. As predicted, we find a robust association between self-control and higher levels of cooperation, and the association is weaker for more risk-averse individuals. Free riders differ from other contributor types only in their tendency not to have identified a self-control conflict in the first place. Our model accounts for the data at least as well as do other models. |
| Keywords: | self-control; cooperation; public good; risk; experiment |
| JEL: | C91 D03 H40 |
| Date: | 2012–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lmu:muenec:12706&r=soc |
| By: | Ligon, Ethan A. (University of California, Berkeley. Dept of agricultural and resource economics); Schechter, Laura (University of Wisconsin, Madison) |
| Abstract: | We conduct field experiments in rural Paraguay to measure the value of reciprocity within social networks in a set of fifteen villages. These experiments involve conducting dictator- type games; different treatments involve manipulating the information and choice that individuals have in the game. These different treatments allow us to measure and distinguish between different motives for giving in these games. The different motives we're able to measure include a general benevolence, directed altruism, fear of sanctions, and reciprocity within the social network. We're further able to draw inferences from play in the games regarding the sorts of impediments to trade which must restrict villagers' ability to share in states of the world when no researchers are present running experiments and measuring outcomes. |
| Date: | 2011–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:are:cudare:1116&r=soc |
| By: | Yamamura, Eiji |
| Abstract: | This paper explores how individual preferences for income redistribution are influenced by social capital, which is measured by rates of participation in community activities. Individual-level data and place of residence data were combined to examine how social capital accumulated in residential areas influences an individual’s preference for income redistribution. After controlling for individual characteristics, I obtained the following key findings: people are more likely to prefer income redistribution in areas with higher rates of community participation. This tendency is more clearly observed in high-income groups than in low-income groups. This implies that one’s preference for income redistribution is influenced by psychological externalities. |
| Keywords: | Redistribution; Social capital; Inequality; Externality |
| JEL: | D63 H20 D30 Z13 |
| Date: | 2012–01–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:36181&r=soc |
| By: | Ligon, Ethan (University of California, Berkeley. Dept of agricultural and resource economics); Schechter, Laura (University of Wisconsin, Madison) |
| Abstract: | What motivates people in rural villages to share? We first elicit a baseline level of sharing using a standard, anonymous dictator game. Then using variants of the dictator game that allow for either revealing the dictator's identity or allowing the dictator to choose the recipient, we attribute variationin sharing to three different motives. The first of these, directed altruism, is related to preferences, while the remaining two are incentive-related(sanctions and reciprocity). We observe high average levels of sharing in ourbaseline treatment, while variation across individuals depends importantlyon the incentive-related motives. Finally, variation in measured reciprocity within the experiment predicts observed 'real-world' gift-giving, while other motives measured in the experiment do not predict behavior outside the experiment. |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:are:cudare:1120&r=soc |
| By: | Nicodemo, Catia (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona); Nicolini, Rosella (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona) |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the existence of hiring criteria associated with the degree of social connections between skill and low-skill workers. We provide evidence about to what extent managers rely on their social connections in recruiting low-skill workers rather than on random matching. As one unique feature we follow an approach for a posted wage setting that reflects the main features of the Spanish labor market. By working with sub-samples of high and low-skill workers we are able to assess that the recruitment of low-skill immigrants quite often follows a referral strategy and we identify interesting irregularities across the ethnic groups. As a common feature, referral hiring is usually influences by the ethnicity of the manager and the relative proportion of immigrants within the firm. Under these perspectives, our study outlines new insights to evaluate the future perspectives of the Spanish labor market. |
| Keywords: | ethnicity, hiring strategies, social networks |
| JEL: | J15 J21 J24 J61 J71 |
| Date: | 2012–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6312&r=soc |
| By: | Olaizola Ortega, María Norma; Valenciano Llovera, Federico |
| Abstract: | We study the effects of institutional constraints on stability, efficiency and network formation. An exogenous "societal cover" consisting of a collection of possibly overlapping subsets covering the set of players specifies the social organization in different groups or "societies". It is assumed that a player may imitiate links only with players that belong to at least one society that she also belongs to, thus restricting the feasible strategies and networks. In this setting, we examine the impact of such societal constraints on stable/efficient architectures and on dynamics. We also study stability and stochastic stability in the presence of decay. |
| Keywords: | network, stability, dynamics, decay, stochastic stability |
| JEL: | A14 C72 D20 J00 |
| Date: | 2011–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehu:ikerla:201151&r=soc |
| By: | Barrett, Alan (Trinity College Dublin); Mosca, Irene (Trinity College Dublin) |
| Abstract: | Across the subjects of economics, sociology and demography, much has been written about the difficulties faced by immigrants. However, much less attention has been paid to the re-adjustment challenges migrants face on their return. In this paper, we examine whether and the extent to which a group of returned migrants experience higher degrees of social isolation and loneliness compared to compatriots who never lived abroad. The data used are from the first wave of the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA). We find that social isolation is a significant feature of the lives of return migrants. |
| Keywords: | immigrants, social isolation, loneliness |
| JEL: | F22 J61 |
| Date: | 2012–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6331&r=soc |
| By: | Manuela Trochke (Osteuropa-Institut, Regensburg) |
| Abstract: | While most transition countries suffered substantially from the world financial crisis of 2008 and still cope with its consequences, Uzbekistan has stayed almost untouched and shows constant economic growth since 2001. Neither macroeconomic foundations nor available institutional indicators provide an explanation for the sustained “Uzbek Growth Puzzle” (Zettelmeyer, 1999). This paper argues that social capital plays a major role in this puzzle. I examine how social capital has contributed to (1) the ease of transition, (2) the development of effective markets and (3) the development of an effective government. In view of the empirical results from other countries, I analyze the Uzbek case with the help of stylized facts for Uzbek social capital and the data derived from the AsiaBarometer surveys for 2003 and 2005. |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ost:wpaper:310&r=soc |