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on Social Norms and Social Capital |
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Issue of 2018‒01‒15
eight papers chosen by Fabio Sabatini Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza” |
| By: | Algan, Yann; Guriev, Sergei; Papaioannou, Elias; Passari, Evgenia |
| Abstract: | We study the implications of the Great Recession for voting for anti-establishment parties, as well as for general trust and political attitudes, using regional data across Europe. We find a strong relationship between increases in unemployment and voting for non-mainstream, especially populist parties. Moreover, increases in unemployment go in tandem with a decline in trust in national and European political institutions, while we find much attenuated effects of unemployment on interpersonal trust. The correlation between unemployment and attitudes towards immigrants is muted, especially for their cultural impact. To advance on causality, we extract the component of increases in unemployment explained by the pre-crisis structure of the economy, in particular the share of construction in regional value added, which is strongly related both to build-up and the burst of the crisis. Our results imply that crisis-driven economic insecurity is a substantial driver of populism and political distrust. |
| Keywords: | crisis; Europe; Immigration; industrial structure; populism; Trust; voting |
| JEL: | A13 E02 F02 F22 F33 J15 O43 |
| Date: | 2017–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:12444&r=soc |
| By: | Claude-Denys Fluet; Romain Espinosa; Bruno Deffains |
| Abstract: | We conduct an experiment where participants choose between actions that provide private benefits but may also impose losses on strangers. Three legal environments are compared: no law, strict liability for the harm caused to others, and an efficiently designed negligence rule where damages are paid only when the harmful action causes a net social loss. Legal obligations are either perfectly enforced (Severe Law) or only weakly so (Mild Law), i.e., material incentives are then nondeterrent. We investigate how legal obligations and social norms interact. Our results show that liability rules strengthen pro-social behavior and suggest that strict liability has a greater effect than the negligence rule. |
| Keywords: | Behavioral law and economics, liability rules, Social norms, social preferences, legal norms |
| JEL: | C91 K13 D03 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lvl:crrecr:1705&r=soc |
| By: | Giampaolo Lecce (Cowles Foundation, Yale University); Laura Ogliari (Bocconi University); Tommaso Orlando (Bank of Italy) |
| Abstract: | We study how cultural distance affects the rejection of imposed institutions. To do so, we exploit the transplantation of Piedmontese institutions on Southern Italy that occurred during the Italian unification. We assemble a novel and unique dataset containing municipal-level information on episodes of brigandage, a form of violent uprising against the unitary government. We use the geographic distance from local settlements of Piedmontese descent as a proxy for the cultural distance between each municipality and the new rulers. We find robust evidence that cultural distance from the origins of the transplanted institutions is significantly associated with more intense resistance to these institutions. Our results further suggest that the rejection of the transplanted institutions may have a long-lasting effect on political participation. |
| Keywords: | Institutions, Institutional Transplantations, Culture, Social Unrest, Electoral Turnout |
| JEL: | N43 D74 P16 Z10 |
| Date: | 2017–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cwl:cwldpp:2097r&r=soc |
| By: | Roberto Antonietti; Ron Boschma |
| Abstract: | There is increasing interest in the question how institutions affect regional diversification, especially in times of economic crisis. This paper investigates the role of social capital for the entry of new industries and the exits of existing industries in Italian provinces during the 2004-2010 period. Our results show that bridging social capital in a region positively contributes to the entry of new industries, especially when they are unrelated to existing specializations in the region. Diversification in regions (especially more unrelated diversification) tends to rely on bridging, not on bonding social capital. We also find that bridging social capital loses its impact on regional diversification during the crisis. Bonding, not bridging social capital, appears to make regions resilient in times of crisis, by reducing the probability of exit, especially in industries unrelated to existing specializations in regions. While bridging social capital has a negative effect on exit in times of prosperity, it shows no such effect anymore during the crisis period. Our findings suggest that bridging social capital loses its supportive role in times of crisis. |
| Keywords: | bonding social capital, bridging social capital, regional diversification, resilience, economic crisis, Italy |
| JEL: | R11 O14 D02 |
| Date: | 2018–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:1804&r=soc |
| By: | Giorgio Bellettini; Carlotta Berti Ceroni; Chiara Monfardini |
| Abstract: | We exploit a unique dataset merging data on individual socio-economic characteristics and political participation in an Italian municipality to investigate the relationship between ethnic diversity in residential neighborhoods and individuals’ propensity to vote. We document a sizable negative impact of diversity on overall electoral turnout which reflects differential effects at the individual level, depending on household equivalent income. Specifically, we show that ethnic heterogeneity in the neighborhood reduces the political participation of the poor, while it fosters that of the more affluent. These results highlight a potential democratic deficit stemming from reduced and unequal electoral turnout in increasingly ethnically heterogeneous neighborhoods. |
| Keywords: | ethnic heterogeneity, electoral turnout, income |
| JEL: | D72 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_6772&r=soc |
| By: | Simplice Asongu (Yaoundé/Cameroun); Oasis Kodila-Tedika (Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo) |
| Abstract: | The paper extends Breggren et al. (2008, EE) on ‘trust and growth: a shaky relationship” by incorporating recent developments in the trust-growth literature and using a robust methodological underpinning that accounts for the presence of outliers. The empirical evidence is based on 63 countries. Two main findings are established. First, the substantially documented positive trust-growth nexus is broadly confirmed. Second, when initial levels of growth come into play in determining the relationship, only the 25th quartile and 90th decile confirm the positive nexus. The results suggest that the trust-growth nexus cannot be generalized for all countries as some previous studies have concluded. Accordingly, trust-growth policies should be contingent on existing levels of development and tailored differently across rich and poor countries. |
| Keywords: | Trust; Growth; Conditional Effects |
| JEL: | A13 O40 Z13 |
| Date: | 2017–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:agd:wpaper:17/054&r=soc |
| By: | Büchel, Konstantin (University of Bern and CRED); Ehrlich, Maximilian v. (‡University of Bern, CAGE, CRED, and CESifo) |
| Abstract: | Social interactions are considered pivotal to agglomeration economies. We explore a unique dataset on mobile phone calls to examine how distance and population density shape the structure of social interactions. Exploiting an exogenous change in travel times, we find that distance is highly detrimental to interpersonal exchange. We show that, despite distance-related costs, urban residents do not benefit from larger networks when spatial sorting is accounted for. Higher density rather generates a more efficient network in terms of matching and clustering. These differences in network structure capitalize into land prices, corroborating the hypothesis that agglomeration economies operate via network efficiency.Keywords: Economic Geography; Agglomeration Economies; Social Interactions; Network Analysis; Spatial Sorting JEL Classification: R10; R23; D83; D85; Z13.creation-date: 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cge:wacage:356&r=soc |
| By: | Isabelle Guérin (IRD, CESSMA (Paris, France), IFP (Pondicherry, India)); Youna Lanos (IRD, UMR 225 DIAL, PSL, Université Paris Dauphine, LEDa); Sébastien Michiels (IRD, UMR 225 DIAL, PSL, Université Paris Dauphine, LEDa, IFP (Pondicherry, India)); Christophe Jalil Nordman (IRD, UMR 225 DIAL, PSL, Université Paris Dauphine, LEDa, IFP (Pondicherry, India)); Govindan Venkatasubramanian (IFP (Pondicherry, India)) |
| Abstract: | The demonetisation that took place in India in November 2016 caused an unprecedented shock. Among its other objectives, the measure was championed as an efficient means to promote a less-cash economy, in order to formalise economic transactions and boost social protection. This paper draws on ground-breaking data from rural South India to voice serious reservations over those stated goals. In the short run, the importance of cash in the Indian economy resulted in this measure strongly affecting employment, daily financial practices, and social network use for over three months. People came to rely more strongly on their networks to sustain their economic and social activities. Demonetisation has not fought, but has largely strengthened the informal economy. It has also probably further marginalised those without supportive networks. In a context such as India, where state social protection is weak and governmental schemes are notoriously subject to patronage and clientelistic networks, dense networks of supportive relatives, friends and patrons remain key for safeguarding daily life and the future. It can only be counterproductive to eliminate such arrangements without offering alternative protection. With cashless policies flourishing in various parts of the world, we believe our findings have major implications, seriously questioning their merit, especially among the most marginalised segments of the population. |
| Keywords: | Demonetisation, Digitalisation, Social Regulation, Social Networks, Tamil Nadu, Caste and Gender Segmentation, |
| JEL: | J16 J24 J31 J71 C21 O12 |
| Date: | 2017–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dia:wpaper:dt201710&r=soc |