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on Social Norms and Social Capital |
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Issue of 2016‒02‒23
eleven papers chosen by Fabio Sabatini Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza” |
| By: | Antoci, Angelo; Delfino, Alexia; Paglieri, Fabio; Sabatini, Fabio |
| Abstract: | The rise in online social networking has brought about a revolution in social relations. However, its effects on offline interactions and its implications for collective well-being are still not clear and are under-investigated. We study the ecology of online and offline interaction in an evolutionary game framework where individuals can adopt different strategies of socialization. Our main result is that the spreading of self-protective behaviors to cope with hostile social environments can lead the economy to non-socially optimal stationary states. |
| Keywords: | Evolutionary dynamics; self-protective behavior; social networks; dynamics of social interaction; social networking sites; social capital; Internet; well-being |
| JEL: | C61 C73 D85 O3 O33 Z13 |
| Date: | 2016–01–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:69090&r=soc |
| By: | Fathi Fakhfakh (UP2 - Université Panthéon-Assas - M.E.N.E.S.R. - Ministère de l'Éducation nationale, de l’Enseignement supérieur et de la Recherche, TEPP - Travail, Emploi et Politiques Publiques - UPEM - Université Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Annick Vignes (CAMS - Centre d'analyse et de mathématique sociale - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales, ENPC - Ecole des Ponts ParisTech - École des Ponts ParisTech (ENPC)); Jihan Ghrairi (TEPP - Travail, Emploi et Politiques Publiques - UPEM - Université Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, UP2 - Université Panthéon-Assas - M.E.N.E.S.R. - Ministère de l'Éducation nationale, de l’Enseignement supérieur et de la Recherche) |
| Abstract: | French youth suffer from a high level of unemployment. Despite a large number of public policies, youth employability remains at a critical level. This article emphasizes the role of networks in getting a job, while distinguishing between school networks and social/professional networks, and this a novelty of this study. We postulate that workers use networks differently depending mainly on their individual and their socio-spatial characteristics. The empirical analysis shows that more than 30% of young people find a job thanks to their social or school network. School networks help better-educated people, whereas social networks are more fruitful for the less well-educated. Being a woman or having non-French parents reduce the probability of finding a job through social or school networks. Finally, people living in sensitive urban areas are more affected by unemployment, and they are more likely to find a job through school networks, public agencies or competitive exams. Thus, networks help in finding a job, but to different extents depending on education, origin, gender or place of residence. |
| Keywords: | youth labor market,job access channels,Social and professional networks,school networks,socio-spatial indicators |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-01253907&r=soc |
| By: | Choy , James (Department of Economics, University of Warwick) |
| Abstract: | I construct a model of religion as an institution that provides community enforcement of contracts within families. Family altruism implies that family members cannot commit to reporting broken contracts to the community, so the community must monitor contract performance as well as inflicting punishment. The community has less information than family members, and so community monitoring is inefficient. I provide evidence from a study of Amish institutions, including qualitative evidence from sociological accounts and quantitative evidence from a novel dataset covering nearly the entire Amish population of Holmes county, Ohio. I find that 1) Amish households are not unitary, 2) the Amish community helps to support families by inflicting punishments on wayward family members, 3) without the community Amish people have difficulty committing to punishing family members, and 4) Amish community membership strengthens family ties, while otherwise similar religious communities in which there is less need for exchange between family members have rules that weaken family ties. My model has implications for understanding selection into religious practice and the persistence of culture. |
| Keywords: | Cultural Economics, Non-market Production, Public Goods, Religion |
| JEL: | D13 H4 Z10 Z12 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wrk:warwec:1114&r=soc |
| By: | Artavia Mora, L.D. |
| Abstract: | Cooperation is at the centre of human nature and at the heart of social transformations. Grasping how strangers cooperate and behave with each other may permit a better understanding of the way societies function and can develop as they modernize. To advance this comprehension, this study examines whether humans are naturally predisposed towards cooperation or selfishness, and how their behavior changes when people have more time to think. To answer these questions, the study implements an original natural field experiment which exogenously varies response times (through average human walking time) to analyze the intuitive and rational underpinnings of human behavior. The experimental findings suggest that while humans are naturally inclined to help each other, they start behaving more selfishly as thinking time increases. There is also clear evidence that humans are prone to withhold help when strangers violate social norms and the likelihood of such indirect punishment increases when they have more time to think. |
| Keywords: | cooperation, natural field experiment, dual-reasoning, The Hague |
| Date: | 2016–01–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ems:euriss:79788&r=soc |
| By: | Simplice Asongu (Yaoundé/Cameroun); Rangan Gupta (University of Pretoria, South Africa) |
| Abstract: | The transition from Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has substantially shifted the policy debate from growth to inclusive growth. In this short note, we revisit the trust-growth nexus by exploiting a dataset on quality of growth (QG), recently made available to the scientific community. The empirical evidence is based on interactive contemporary and non-contemporary quantile regressions. Inequality and human development modifying variables are used as additional controls. The findings broadly support the positive role of trust in QG. In addition, relatively high thresholds of inequality are needed to change this positive trust-QG nexus in some distributions. |
| Keywords: | Trust; Inclusive Growth; Conditional Effects |
| JEL: | A13 I30 O40 Z13 |
| Date: | 2015–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:agd:wpaper:15/026&r=soc |
| By: | Aura Parmentier Cajaiba (GREDEG CNRS; University of Nice Sophia Antipolis); Giovany Cajaiba Santana (Kedge Business School) |
| Abstract: | This paper aims at understanding how and why managers can mobilize networks for creating and modifying organizational routines. We mobilize both routines and social capital corpus associated to structuration theory to deepened understanding on how networks are deployed and further used for elaborating and modifying organizational routines. Our research is based on a 3-year in-depth engaged study in a small firm pertaining to European biopesticide industry confronted to developing a registration capability. This process led to routine creation and modification through managerial agency. This study brings insights on how social capital plays a role in the elaboration and modification of routines related to social structures imposed to the firm. We provide a model that articulates social structure, social system and social capital. It provides a recursive and dialogical perspective of structures and social capital as a carrier for creating and modifying routines conceptualized as a social system. Results show that the modification or creation of routines is oriented by how the manager perceives it as legitimate by specific ties. It also shows that the elaboration of a bundle of routine can be supported by external networks that are not initially part of the firm resources. These networks provide diverse kind of resources such as information, human resources, and procedures. But more important, they are also a medium for legitimating both routines and associated actions. |
| Keywords: | routine formation, social capital, network |
| JEL: | M10 B52 |
| Date: | 2014–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gre:wpaper:2014-41&r=soc |
| By: | Dai, Zhixin (CNRS, GATE); Galeotti, Fabio (CNRS, GATE); Villeval, Marie Claire (CNRS, GATE) |
| Abstract: | We conduct an artefactual field experiment using a diversified sample of passengers of public transportations to study attitudes towards dishonesty. We find that the diversity of behavior in terms of dis/honesty in laboratory tasks and in the field correlate. Moreover, individuals who have just been fined in the field behave more honestly in the lab than the other fare-dodgers, except when context is introduced. Overall, we show that simple tests of dishonesty in the lab can predict moral firmness in life, although frauders who care about social image cheat less when behavior can be verified ex post by the experimenter. |
| Keywords: | dishonesty, fare-dodging, field experiment, external validity, public transportations |
| JEL: | B41 C91 C93 K42 |
| Date: | 2016–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9702&r=soc |
| By: | Robalino, Juan David (Cornell University) |
| Abstract: | In this paper I analyze adolescent peer effects on cigarette consumption while considering the 'popularity' of peers. The analysis is based on AddHealth data, a four wave panel survey representative of American high-school students. The data include the social network of each school, which we use to measure peers' popularity from network centrality measures, in particular weighted-eigenvector centrality. We use lagged peers' behavior at the grade level to alleviate potential homophilic confounds, and we include school fixed effects to control for contextual confounds. We find that most of the aggregate peer effects regarding cigarette smoking come from the smoking propensity of the 20% most popular kids, suggesting a mediation from social status. This effect persists seven and thirteen years later (wave 3 and 4 of the data). Indeed, the smoking propensity of the bottom 80% seems to have a negative influence on the probability of smoking in the long run (wave 3 and 4). These results hint to the importance of knowing not only the smoking propensity within a school but also the place of the smokers within the social hierarchy of the school. |
| Keywords: | peer effects, status |
| JEL: | I1 |
| Date: | 2016–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9714&r=soc |
| By: | Strømland, Eirik (Department of Economics, University of Bergen); Tjøtta, Sigve (Department of Economics, University of Bergen); Torsvik, Gaute (Department of Economics, University of Oslo) |
| Abstract: | Through what mechanisms do individuals enforce cooperation? In this paper, we show experimentally that partner choice by mutual consent improves cooperation compared to random matching of subjects. We find that partner choice is used to establish lasting reciprocal partnerships and thus that partner choice may be a force in the evolution of reciprocal cooperation. There is no additional impact on cooperation by allowing for both chat and partner choice. Our findings suggest that partner choice will improve cooperation in settings where ongoing group communication is infeasible, but not when there are opportunities to use large-scale communication to enforce cooperation. |
| Keywords: | Cooperation; Partner Choice; Communication; Reciprocity; Prisoner’s Dilemma |
| JEL: | C91 C92 |
| Date: | 2016–02–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:bergec:2016_001&r=soc |
| By: | Fabio Sabatini (University of Rome - La Sapienza); Francesco Sarracino |
| Abstract: | Does Facebook make people lonely and unhappy? Empirical studies have produced conflicting results about the effect of social network- ing sites (SNS) use on individual welfare. We use a representative sample of the Italian population to investigate how actual and virtual networks of social relationships influence subjective well-being (SWB). We find a significantly negative correlation between online networking and self-reported happiness. We address endogeneity in online net- working by exploiting technological characteristics of the pre-existing voice telecommunication infrastructures that exogenously determined the availability of broadband for high-speed Internet. We try to further disentangle the direct effect of SNS use on well-being from the indirect effect possibly caused by the impact of SNS's on trust and sociability in a SEM analysis. We find that online networking plays a positive role in SWB through its impact on physical interactions. On the other hand, SNS use is associated with lower social trust, which is in turn positively correlated with SWB. The overall effect of network- ing on individual welfare is significantly negative. |
| Keywords: | social participation; online networks; Facebook; social trust; social capital; subjective well-being; hate speech; broadband; digital divide |
| JEL: | C36 D85 O33 Z13 |
| Date: | 2014–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ent:wpaper:wp54&r=soc |
| By: | Andrej Angelowski (LUISS Guido Carli, Rome); Daniela Di Cagno (LUISS Guido Carli, Rome); Werner Güth (Luiss Guido Carli, Rome; Frankfurt School of Finance and Management, Frankfurt; Max Planck Institute on Collective Goods, Bonn); Francesca Marazzi (Università degli Studi di Roma Tor Vergata); Luca Panaccione (Università degli Studi di Roma Tor Vergata) |
| Abstract: | In a circular neighborhood with each member having a left and a right neighbor, individuals choose two contribution levels, one each for the public good shared with the left, respectively right, neighbor. This allows for general free riders, who do not contribute at all, and general cooperators, who contribute to both local public goods, as well as for differentiating contributors who contribute in a discriminatory way. Although the two-person local public good games are structurally independent, we investigate whether intra- as well as interpersonal spillover effects arise. We find that participants do not behave as if they are playing two separate public good games, hence that both inter-personal and intrapersonal behavioral spillovers occur. To investigate more clearly motives for voluntary cooperation via analyzing individual adaptations in playing two structurally independent games, we design treatments differing in cooperation incentives (i.e. different MPCR) and structural (a)symmetry of local public goods. We find that when the MPCR is asymmetric, free-riding occurs less, and contributions are more stable over time. We also find that contributions in the asymmetric treatment when MPCR is low are higher than contributions in symmetric treatments with higher MPCR. |
| Keywords: | Public goods, experiments, voluntary contribution mechanism |
| JEL: | C91 C72 H41 |
| Date: | 2015–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lui:cesare:1509&r=soc |