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on Social Norms and Social Capital |
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Issue of 2016‒11‒13
nine papers chosen by Fabio Sabatini Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza” |
| By: | Alan, Sule; Ertac, Seda; Kubilay, Elif; Lóránth, Gyöngyi |
| Abstract: | We study the evolution of gender differences in the willingness to assume the decision-maker role in a group, which is a major component of leadership. Using data from a large-scale field experiment, we show that while there is no gender difference in the willingness to make risky decisions on behalf of a group in a sample of children, a large gap emerges in a sample of adolescents. In particular, the proportion of girls who exhibit leadership willingness drops by 39% going from childhood to adolescence. We explore the possible causes of this drop and find that a significant part of it can be explained by a dramatic decline in "social confidence", measured by the willingness to perform a real effort task in public. We show that it is possible to capture the observed link between public performance and leadership by estimating a structural model that incorporates costs related to social concerns. These findings are important in addressing the lower propensity of females to self-select into high-level positions, which are typically subject to greater public scrutiny. |
| Keywords: | leadership; gender; risk taking; social confidence; experiments. |
| JEL: | C91 C93 D03 I28 |
| Date: | 2016–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:11596&r=soc |
| By: | Ambec, Stefan; Garapin, Alexis; Muller, Laurent; Rahali, Bilel |
| Abstract: | We investigate how people trade off between equity and efficiency, using variations of tripled dictator and trust games in a lab experiment. Equalizing payoffs reduces the return from the tripled investment in the dictator game. In contrast, in the trust game both equal and maximized payoffs can be achieved, provided that receiver transfers back half of the return from investment. We find that subjects sacrifice efficiency for equity in the dictator game but manage to achieve both in the trust game. Most subjects equalize payoffs when they are placed behind a veil of ignorance about their position in the trust game, regardless of their aversion to risk. They invest less when they pay to obtain their position as investor but do not send back less if they pay to be the receiver. Subjects who modify their investment decision after receiving information about the average investment in their group tend to move closer to the average. |
| Keywords: | Trust game, triple dictator game, fairness, efficiency, equity, experiment. |
| JEL: | C72 C90 D03 D63 |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tse:wpaper:31118&r=soc |
| By: | Mekonnen, Daniel Ayalew; Gerber, Nicolas; Matz, Julia Anna |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the existence of social learning in agriculture in Ethiopia. We use a ‘random matching within sample’ technique to collect data on social networks and elicit details of the relationships and information exchange between network members, complementing the analysis with information on self-reported networks. We find that, while kinship or membership in certain groups, informal forms of insurance, or having frequent meetings with network members are all associated with a higher probability of forming an information link, none of these are correlated with observed innovative behavior such as the adoption of row-planting. This may suggest that behavior is more likely to be affected by the nature of information that passes through the network, rather than the number of information links. In support of this, we find that information links that exclusively involve discussions on farming or business matters are indeed associated with a higher likelihood of adopting row-planting. We use econometric strategies to isolate social learning from that of correlated and contextual effects. After controlling for factors that might otherwise generate spurious correlation, we find a strong evidence of network externalities in the adoption of row-planting techniques and also in farm productivity. Our results imply that extension services and other programs that promote agricultural innovations and seek yield improvement may benefit from social networks but they may be more effective if they identify the ‘right’ networks, that is, the ones that exclusively involve information exchange regarding agriculture. This further implies that investment in group formation, rather than simply using existing networks, may be a beneficial strategy. |
| Keywords: | Social networks, innovations, row planting, agriculture, Ethiopia, Crop Production/Industries, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, Q1, D02, O33, D83, D62, |
| Date: | 2016–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaae16:246436&r=soc |
| By: | Fiorillo, D.; Lavadera, G.L.; Nappo, N. |
| Abstract: | Although social capital have been hypothesized to have positive influence on psychological health, few papers found a relationship between social capital dimensions and psychological wellbeing. This study investigates the longitudinal relationship between social participation in associations and self-rated psychological health. The paper uses five waves of the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) that follows the same individuals between 1991 and 1995. Ordered logit fixed effect methods have been used to study the longitudinal link between structural social capital (being member, active, and both member and active in associations) and self-rated psychological health assessed by single items of the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) controlling for age, marital status, household size, number of children, education, income, economic status, number of visit to GP or family doctor. The paper shows that being both member and active in associations is linked to all “positive†items of self-rated psychological health and to two main “negative†items of psychological wellbeing. Instead, being only member or only active in associations have no statistical effect on single items of the GHQ-12, with few exceptions. Findings highlight the protective role of being both member and active in associations against poor psychological health outcomes. |
| Keywords: | social capital; social participation; psychological health; ordered logit fixed effect; British Household Panel Survey; |
| JEL: | C23 D71 I10 I31 Z1 |
| Date: | 2016–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:yor:hectdg:16/32&r=soc |
| By: | Angela Valdovinos D'Angelo; Emily Knas; Pamela Holcomb; Kathryn Edin |
| Abstract: | Findings from the qualitative study of the Parents and Children Together evaluation offer insight into the social networks of low-income fathers and the organizational supports they turn to for assistance. |
| Keywords: | PACT, parents and children together, social networks, low-income fathers |
| JEL: | I |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:7f8d3497a27a4b9684ce092fc847c8c3&r=soc |
| By: | Willy, Daniel Kyalo; Kuhn, Arnim; Müller, Karin Holm |
| Abstract: | The fact that agriculture is associated with negative external effects on ecosystems is of great concern. Most of these agri-environmental externalities are public goods in nature and therefore solving them through conventional market and regulation tools is challenging. Collective action has been identified as an option in dealing with externalities emanating from activities touching on agriculture and the environment especially in circumstances where markets and government regulation are not effective. In this paper we assess the potential for agri-environmental cooperation in dealing with agri-environmental externalities. The study achieves this objective using cross-sectional household survey data collected from 308 households in the Lake Naivasha basin, Kenya. Results indicate that non-cooperation is a dominant strategy in the Lake Naivasha basin. The study also identifies factors that influence the probability of cooperating and therefore could be catalysts to encourage cooperation. Such factors include expected private incentives, labour endowments and agricultural commercialization. Positive perceptions and attitudes, presence of social sanctions and norms of trust were also found to significantly influence cooperation. To deal with agri-environmental challenges through cooperation, policy needs to focus on facilitating selective incentives, awareness creation and embracing local participation in resource management. |
| Keywords: | Cooperation, Incentives, Institutions, Lake Basin, Community Initiatives, Soil Erosion, Consumer/Household Economics, Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use, |
| Date: | 2016–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaae16:249268&r=soc |
| By: | Morone, Andrea; Temerario, Tiziana |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we first replicated Harrison et al. (2012). Then, we studied if the group’s size has an impact on group’s risk aversion. In line with Harrison et al. (2012), our results confirm that no significant differences occur between individuals and groups risk aversion in three-person group. We also found that group size does not affect the level of risk aversion. |
| Keywords: | Preferences; Risk attitude; Laboratory; Majority Rule; |
| JEL: | C91 C92 D01 |
| Date: | 2016–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:74949&r=soc |
| By: | Sascha O. Becker (University of Warwick); Thiemo Fetzer (Economic geography, market potential, structural gravity, trade costsAbstract: The 2004 accession of 8 Eastern European countries (plus Cyprus and Malta) to the European Union (EU) was overshadowed by feared mass migration of workers from the East due to the EU’s rules on free mobility of labour. While many incumbent EU countries imposed temporary restrictions on labour mobility, the United Kingdom did not impose any such restrictions. We document that following accession at least 1 million people (ca. 3% of the UK working age population) migrated from Eastern Europe to the UK. Places that received large numbers of migrants from Eastern Europe saw a significant increase in anti-European sentiment after 2004, measured by vote shares for the UK Independence Party (UKIP) in elections to the European Parliament. We show that the migration wave depressed wages at the lower end of the wage distribution and contributed to increased pressure on public services and housing.) |
| Keywords: | Political Economy, Migration, Globalization, Voting, EU JEL Classification: R23, D72, N44, Z13creation-date: 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cge:wacage:306&r=soc |
| By: | Lorenzo Casaburi; Rocco Macchiavello |
| Abstract: | Organizations depend on members' "loyalty" for their success. Studying a cooperative's attempt to increase deliveries by members, we show that the threat of sanctions leads to highly heterogeneous response among members. Despite the cooperative not actually enforcing the threatened sanctions, positive effects for some members persist for several months. Other members "exit," stopping delivering altogether. Among non-compliant members we document substantial heterogeneity in beliefs about the legitimacy of the sanctions. This lack of common understanding highlights the role played by managers in organizations and provides a candidate explanation for lack of sanctions enforcement documented by Ostrom (1990) and other studies. |
| JEL: | D83 O13 P13 Q13 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:68218&r=soc |