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on Social Norms and Social Capital |
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Issue of 2016‒01‒29
eight papers chosen by Fabio Sabatini Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza” |
| By: | Philipp Marek; Benjamin Damm; Tong-Ya Su |
| Abstract: | This paper relates an individual’s social capital and the length of unemployment spells of the very same individual. For this purpose, we analyze several facets of an agent’s social activities as determinants of her social capital. Social activities lead to social interactions within organizational settings, which build up social capital at the group level. Via social interactions an exchange of knowledge emerges, including information on opportunities to get a job. An econometric duration model based on German data is applied to empirically research the relationship between social capital and the duration of unemployment. Our results show that an individual’s social capital positively affects an agent’s probability to take up employment in the next time period. This implies social capital shortens the length of an unemployment spell significantly. |
| Keywords: | Social Capital, Job Search, Duration Analysis |
| JEL: | Z13 J64 C41 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp812&r=soc |
| By: | Olessia Y. Koltsova (National Research University Higher School of Economics); Galina I. Selivanova (National Research University Higher School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | This research investigates to which extent activity of a social movement on a social networking site is related to participation in the offline collective action. We use the data from 17 online groups representing the branches of the movement for Fair Elections in 17 districts of St.Petersburg, Russia, and compare their online parameters to real offline participation of group members in elections in the role of observers. With around 12,000 online users and over 200 offline participants, we use social network analysis and statistical analysis to obtain our results. We find that both on the group and the individual levels participation is related to online networking features and activity parameters, albeit to a modest degree, and offline leaders are especially different from the rest of the members in terms of most online features |
| Keywords: | social movements, online communities, social networks, participation, Russia. |
| JEL: | Z19 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:67/soc/2015&r=soc |
| By: | Co-Pierre Georg and Michael E. Rose |
| Abstract: | In academia, informal collaboration is an integral element in the production of knowledge. We construct the social network of informal collaboration using acknowledgments of 2782 scholarly articles published in six journals in financial economics. We rank financial economists according to their centrality in the network and find that central commenters are not necessarily the most central or the most productive authors. We explore the determinants of high centrality rankings using detailed CV data for the most central academics. A PhD from a better ranked department is associated with a better centrality ranking. Seniority is associated with worse rankings, albeit at a decreasing rate. |
| Keywords: | Knowledge production, formal collaboration, informal collaboration, social network, acknowledgements |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rza:wpaper:571&r=soc |
| By: | Milena Nikolova; Monica Roman; Klaus F. Zimmermann |
| Abstract: | The fall of socialism in Central and Eastern Europe restored ordinary citizens’ rights and freedoms and ended their political and social isolation. While the freedom of movement was quickly embraced, civil society revival lagged due to the eroded civic norms, declining social capital, and worsening economic conditions. In this paper, we examine the link between the out-migration of relatives and friends and the pro-social behavior of the left behinds in two post-socialist countries—Bulgaria and Romania—the EU’s poorest, unhappiest, and among the most corrupt members. We show that having close contacts abroad is consistently positively associated with civic engagement and that the cultural transmission of norms from abroad could be driving the results. Specifically, the strength of the civic engagement culture of the family or friend’s destination matters for the pro-social behavior of respondents in the home countries. Our results imply that the emigration of family and friends may have positive but previously undocumented consequences for the individuals and communities left behind in Bulgaria and Romania. Given civil society’s role for development in post-socialist Europe and the socio-economic and institutional challenges that Bulgaria and Romania face compared with the rest of the EU, understanding the channels fostering civil society and well-being are important for national and EU policymakers. |
| Keywords: | : international migration, left behind, civic engagement, social remittances, post-socialism |
| JEL: | I30 I31 F22 P30 Z10 |
| Date: | 2016–01–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cel:dpaper:36&r=soc |
| By: | David L. Dickinson; Todd McElroy |
| Abstract: | Key Words: Simple bargaining games are the foundation of more complex social interactions necessary for healthy relationships and well-functioning societies. Neuroscience research has shown that high-level deliberative thinking processes are necessary for social-decision making—it seems cognitively less demanding to be greedy or to mistrust. In this paper, our focus is on how commonly-experienced adverse sleep states, which are known to harm deliberative thinking, impact outcomes in the classic simple bargaining games (ultimatum, dictator, and trust games). Specifically, we experimentally manipulate sleep states of 184 young-adult subjects who took part in a 3 week experimental protocol. Subjects were administered each game twice: once after a full week of sleep restriction and once after a full week of well-rested sleep levels. Subjects were also randomly assigned to early morning (7:30 am) or later evening (10:00 pm) sessions to manipulate the optimality of the time-of-day of the decisions. We find a robust result of increased greed, reduced trust, and reduced trustworthiness following sleep restriction, after controlling for demographics and session indicators. We find no significant direct impact of circadian timing on decisions for these tasks. However, the mediating variable for these sleep manipulation effects is subjective sleepiness, and both sleep restriction and suboptimal circadian timing significantly increase self-reported sleepiness. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that increased sleepiness reduces the relative input of deliberate thinking in social interactions. |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:apl:wpaper:16-03&r=soc |
| By: | Thomas Aronsson (Umea University); Olof Johansson-Stenman (University of Gothenburg); Ronald Wendner (University of Graz) |
| Abstract: | This paper deals with tax policy responses to charitable giving based on a model of optimal redistributive income taxation. The major contribution is the simultaneous treatment of (i) warm-glow and stigma effects of charitable donations; (ii) that the warm glow of giving and stigma of receiving charity may to some extent depend on relative comparisons; and (iii) that people are also concerned with their relative consumption more generally. Whether charity should be taxed or supported turns out to largely depend on the relative strengths of the warm glow of giving and the stigma of receiving charity, respectively, and on the positional externalities caused by charitable donations. In addition, imposing stigma on the mimicker (via a relaxation of the self-selection constraint) strengthens the case for subsidizing charity. We also consider a case where the government is unable to target the charitable giving through a direct tax instrument, and examine how the optimal marginal income tax structure is adjusted in response to charitable giving. |
| Keywords: | Conspicuous consumption; conspicuous charitable giving; optimal income taxation; warm glow; stigma |
| JEL: | D03 D62 H21 H23 |
| Date: | 2016–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:grz:wpaper:2016-01&r=soc |
| By: | Martin Korndörfer (University of Leipzig); Boris Egloff (Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz); Stefan C. Schmukle (University of Leipzig) |
| Abstract: | Does being from a higher social class lead a person to engage in more or less prosocial behavior? Psychological research has recently provided support for a negative effect of social class on prosocial behavior. However, research outside the field of psychology has mainly found evidence for positive or u-shaped relations. In the present research, we therefore thoroughly examined the effect of social class on prosocial behavior. Moreover, we analyzed whether this effect was moderated by the kind of observed prosocial behavior, the observed country, and the measure of social class. Across eight studies with large and representative international samples, we predominantly found positive effects of social class on prosociality: Higher class individuals were more likely to make a charitable donation and contribute a higher percentage of their family income to charity (32,090 >= N >= 3,957; Studies 1–3), were more likely to volunteer (37,136 >= N >= 3,964; Studies 4–6), were more helpful (N = 3,902; Study 7), and were more trusting and trustworthy in an economic game when interacting with a stranger (N = 1,421; Study 8) than lower social class individuals. Although the effects of social class varied somewhat across the kinds of prosocial behavior, countries, and measures of social class, under no condition did we find the negative effect that would have been expected on the basis of previous results reported in the psychological literature. Possible explanations for this divergence and implications are discussed. |
| Date: | 2015–07–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jgu:wpaper:1601&r=soc |
| By: | Chiu, Leslie J. Verteramo; Gomez, Miguel I.; Liaukonyte, Jura; Kaiser, Harry M. |
| Abstract: | The motivation to pay a premium for socially responsible products is partly an expression of consumer concern for the well-being of those involved in the production process. Thus, choosing to buy a product with a socially responsible label and choosing to donate to a charity are similarly motivated actions. While there is an extensive literature on the economics of charitable giving that examines motivations to donate as well as on the impacts of labeling on consumer demand, there is very little overlap between the two literatures. In this paper we attempt to bridge these two literatures by investigating whether consumers have heterogeneous motivations for paying a premium. We design a lab experiment that auctions coffee with hypothetical socially responsible labels that put different weights on in-kind vs. cash transfers. We find that those consumers who prefer to restrict most of the premium to be an in-kind transfer (and are classified as paternalistic altruists) are willing to pay a 52.5% price premium over standard coffee. Those who prefer that most of the premium is paid as cash to the recipient (strong altruists) are willing to pay a 42.5% premium. Finally, those who are indifferent to how the premium is spent by the recipient (warmglow givers) are willing to pay only a 19.2% premium. We discuss the implications of our results and future research directions |
| Keywords: | The motivation to pay a premium for socially responsible products is partly an expression of consumer concern for the well-being of those involved in the production process. Thus, choosing to buy a product with a socially responsible label and choosing to donate to a charity are similarly motivated actions. While there is an extensive literature on the economics of charitable giving that examines motivations to donate as well as on the impacts of labeling on consumer demand, there is very little overlap between the two literatures. In this paper we attempt to bridge these two literatures by investigating whether consumers have heterogeneous motivations for paying a premium. We design a lab experiment that auctions coffee with hypothetical socially responsible labels that put different weights on in-kind vs. cash transfers. We find that those consumers who prefer to restrict most of the premium to be an in-kind transfer (and are classified as paternalistic altruists) are willing to pay a 52.5% price premium over standard coffee. Those who prefer that most of the premium is paid as cash to the recipient (strong altruists) are willing to pay a 42.5% premium. Finally, those who are indifferent to how the premium is spent by the recipient (warmglow givers) are willing to pay only a 19.2% premium. We discuss the implications of our results and future research directions, Consumer/Household Economics, D12, M3, Q11, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:assa16:212829&r=soc |