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on Social Norms and Social Capital |
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Issue of 2018‒09‒24
twelve papers chosen by Fabio Sabatini Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza” |
| By: | Chevalier, Arnaud (Royal Holloway, University of London); Elsner, Benjamin (University College Dublin); Lichter, Andreas (IZA); Pestel, Nico (IZA) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the impact of immigration on public policy setting. As a natural experiment, we exploit the sudden arrival of eight million forced migrants in West Germany after World War II. These migrants were on average poorer than the West German population, but unlike most international migrants they had full voting rights and were eligible for social welfare. Using panel data for West German cities and applying difference-in-differences and an instrumental variables approach, we show that local governments responded to this migration shock with selective and persistent tax raises as well as shifts in spending. In response to the inflow, farm and business owners were taxed more while residential property and wage bill taxes were left unchanged. Moreover, high-inflow cities significantly raised welfare spending while reducing spending on infrastructure and housing. Election data suggest that these policy changes were partly driven by the political influence of the immigrants: in high-inflow regions, the major parties were more likely to nominate immigrants as candidates, and a pro-immigrant party received high vote shares. We further document that this episode of mass immigration had lasting effects on people's preferences for redistribution. In areas with larger inflows in the 1940s, people have substantially higher demand for redistribution more than 50 years later. |
| Keywords: | migration, taxation, spending, welfare state |
| JEL: | J61 H20 |
| Date: | 2018–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11725&r=soc |
| By: | Simone Moriconi (IÉSEG School of Management); Giowanni Peri (University of California, Davis); Riccardo Turati (IRES, Université Catholique de Louvain); |
| Abstract: | In this paper we document the impact of immigration at the regional level on Europeans’ political preferences as expressed by voting behavior in parliamentary or presidential elections between 2007 and 2016. We combine individual data on party voting with a classification of each party’s political agenda on a scale of their "nationalistic" attitudes over 28 elections across 126 parties in 12 countries. To reduce immigrant selection and omitted variable bias, we use immigrant settlements in 2005 and the skill compo- sition of recent immigrant flows as instruments. OLS and IV estimates show that larger inflows of highly educated immigrants were associated with a change in the vote of citizens away from nationalism. How- ever the inflow of less educated immigrants was positively associated with a vote shift towards nationalist positions. These effects were stronger for non-tertiary educated voters and in response to non-European immigrants. We also show that they are consistent with the impact of immigration on individual political preferences, which we estimate using longitudinal data, and on opinions about immigrants. Conversely, immigration did not affect electoral turnout. Simulations based on the estimated coefficients show that immigration policies balancing the number of high-skilled and low-skilled immigrants from outside the EU would be associated with a shift in votes away from nationalist parties in almost all European regions. |
| Keywords: | Immigration, Nationalism, Elections, Europe |
| Date: | 2018–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ies:wpaper:e201713&r=soc |
| By: | Ilse Lindenlaub (Yale University); Anja Prummer (Queen Mary University of London) |
| Abstract: | This paper documents gender differences in social ties and develops a theory that links them to disparities in men's and women's labor market performance. Men's networks lead to better access to information, women's to higher peer pressure. Both affect effort in a model of teams, each beneficial in different environments. We find that information is particularly valuable under high uncertainty, whereas peer pressure is more valuable in the opposite case. We therefore expect men to outperform women in jobs that are characterized by high earnings uncertainty, such as the financial sector or film industry - in line with the evidence. |
| Keywords: | Networks, Peer pressure, Gender, Labor market outcomes |
| JEL: | J15 Z10 D02 |
| Date: | 2016–12–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qmw:qmwecw:807&r=soc |
| By: | Aksoy, Cevat Giray (European Bank for Reconstruction and Development); Carpenter, Christopher S. (Vanderbilt University); De Haas, Ralph (EBRD, London); Tran, Kevin (DIW Berlin) |
| Abstract: | Understanding whether laws shape or simply reflect citizens' attitudes is important but empirically difficult. We provide new evidence on this question by studying the relationship between legal same-sex relationship recognition policies (SSRRPs) and attitudes toward sexual minorities in Europe. Using data from the European Social Surveys covering 2002-2016 and exploiting variation in the timing of SSRRPs across countries, we show that legal relationship recognition is associated with statistically significant improvements in attitudes toward sexual minorities. These effects are widespread across demographic groups, emerge only after the policies are adopted, and are not observed for views on other social issues. Our results suggest that laws can exert a powerful influence in shaping societal attitudes. |
| Keywords: | public opinion, same-sex relationship recognition policies, LGBT attitudes |
| JEL: | F5 K36 |
| Date: | 2018–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11743&r=soc |
| By: | Myong, Sunha (Singapore Management University); Park, JungJae (National University of Singapore); Yi, Junjian (National University of Singapore) |
| Abstract: | We first document three stylized facts about marriage and fertility in East Asian societies: They have the highest marriage rates in the world, but the lowest total fertility; they have the lowest total fertility, but almost all married women have at least one child. By contrast, almost no single women have any children. We then explain these three facts, focusing on two social norms associated with Confucianism: the unequal gender division of childcare within a household and the stigma attached to out-of-wedlock births. We incorporate the two social norms into an economic model, and structurally estimate it using data from South Korea's censuses and household surveys. We find that, on the one hand, the social norm of unequal gender division of childcare significantly contributes to the low fertility of South Korea, and its effect varies across education: The social norm lowers fertility for highly educated women but increases it for the less educated. Pro-natal policies can increase average fertility, but they are not effective in mitigating the role of this norm as they cannot sufficiently boost fertility for highly educated women. On the other hand, the social stigma has negligible effects on marriage and fertility. Historical simulation results show that fertility would have decreased less dramatically in the absence of the first norm, especially for younger birth cohorts. Our results suggest that the tension between the persistent gender ideology and rapid socioeconomic development is the main driving force behind the unique marriage and fertility patterns of East Asian societies, and that this tension has escalated in recent decades. |
| Keywords: | Confucianism, social norms, fertility, demographic transition, East Asia societies |
| JEL: | J11 J12 J13 |
| Date: | 2018–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11744&r=soc |
| By: | Algan, Yann; Beasley, Elizabeth; Cohen, Daniel; Foucault, Martial |
| Abstract: | We examine the dislocation from the traditional left-right political axis in the 2017 French election, analyze support for populist movements and show that subjective variables are key to understanding it. Votes on the traditional left-right axis are correlated to ideology concerning redistribution, and predicted by socio-economic variables such as income and social status. Votes on the new diagonal opposing "open vs closed society" are predicted by individual and subjective variables. More specifically, low well-being predicts anti-system opinions (from the left or from the right) while low interpersonal trust (ITP) predicts right-wing populism. |
| Keywords: | inequality; populism |
| JEL: | P26 |
| Date: | 2018–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:13103&r=soc |
| By: | Anna Maria Mayda (Department of Economics and SFS, Georgetown University); Giovanni Peri (University of California, Davis); Walter Steingress (Bank of Canada - Banque du Canada) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we study the impact of immigration to the United States on the vote for the Republican Party by analyzing county-level data on election outcomes between 1990 and 2010. Our main contribution is to separate the effect of high-skilled and low-skilled immigrants, by exploiting the different geography and timing of the inflows of these two groups of immigrants. We find that an increase in the first type of immigrants decreases the share of the Republican vote, while an inflow of the second type increases it. These effects are mainly due to the local impact of immigrants on votes of U.S. citizens and they seem independent of the country of origin of immigrants. We also find that the pro-Republican impact of low-skilled immigrants is stronger in low-skilled and non-urban counties. This is consistent with citizens’ political preferences shifting towards the Republican Party in places where low-skilled immigrants are more likely to be perceived as competition in the labor market and for public resources. |
| Keywords: | Immigration, Republican Party, Electoral Effects, Economic and Fiscal Channels. |
| JEL: | F22 J61 |
| Date: | 2018–09–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:geo:guwopa:gueconwpa~18-18-09&r=soc |
| By: | Tekla Nemanishvili (Iv. Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University) |
| Abstract: | There is a clear evidence that emigration is associated with negative psychological outcomes, such as acculturation stress, depression, suicidal feelings, etc. Emigrants use various strategies to solve the psychological problems. Being a member of emigrants? Facebook supportive groups is common among Georgians mostly living in Europe and North America. They use Facebook groups to get acquainted with other Georgian emigrants, share their ideas and important information, get social support from other members and cope with their everyday hassles. This study examines how Facebook group membership experience (frequency of activity and using self-presentation tactics) is associated with accumulating online social capital among Georgian emigrants. 105 Georgian emigrants from 15 Facebook groups participated in the online survey. The results showed that frequent checking of notifications, writing posts, comments, and likes on emigrants? Facebook groups are positively associated with both bridging and bonding social capital. In addition, strategic self-presentation on Facebook groups is also positively related to online social capital variables. |
| Keywords: | Facebook, online support groups, social capital, social support, self-presentation, emigrants, Georgian emigrants |
| JEL: | Z00 I31 J61 |
| Date: | 2018–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sek:iacpro:6409391&r=soc |
| By: | Pierre-Guillaume Méon; Ilan Tojerow |
| Abstract: | We test whether major religious denominations have a uniform impact on education across the world. Using individual data from the World Values Survey for 77 countries, we find that no denomination consistently influences education and, in fact, for each denomination we study there are countries where its impact is significantly positive, significantly negative, or statistically insignificant. To explain this unexpected result, we relate our first finding to minority status and find that denominations that are a minority in a country have a positive effect on the level of education of their followers in that country. Both findings uphold a series of robustness checks, including changing the definition of minority religions, excluding outliers, and changing the measure of education. |
| Keywords: | religion; education; minority |
| JEL: | I20 O50 Z10 |
| Date: | 2018–08–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sol:wpaper:2013/276508&r=soc |
| By: | Wollni, M.; Lanza, G.; Ibanez, M. |
| Abstract: | In this study, we explore the effects of payments for environmental services on land use decisions among farmers living in Jambi province in Indonesia. Using a framed field experiment we compare land use decisions in a baseline with no payment with two alternative payments for environmental services (PES): an individual incentive scheme, where each participant receives a flat rate payment for each experimental land unit conserved, and a collective incentive scheme that offers individual payments only if an aggregate pre-determined conservation threshold is passed by the group. We find that individual and collective PES are equally effective on the average to increase environmentally friendly behavior associated with the cultivation of rubber agroforestry. Yet we find that whereas individual incentives work equally well for small and large farmers, collective incentives only work for large farmers. In addition, collective incentives generate an increase in conservation even at low payment levels whereas individual incentives only work when payments are high. Participants with a larger social network cultivating oil palm invest a lower share of their endowment in conservation. These findings highlight how land heterogeneity and social capital influence the success of a PES scheme. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, International Development |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:275968&r=soc |
| By: | Alvarado, E.; Ibanez, M.; Brummer, B. |
| Abstract: | The effects of climate change on agriculture have been widely studied. However, it is necessary to keep studying the responses that farmers could have to climate change. One of these responses is the adaptation. We have used anticipatory and reactive adaptation because we wanted to know if farmers prefer options to avoid or to face negative effects. The objective of this research was to understand how risk preferences along with social capital affect the decision to implement anticipatory or reactive adaptation options to climate change. This study took place in central Chile, data were collected through a field experiment from September to December 2016 with 163 vineyard farmers; we used the structural and midpoint methods to estimate the Cumulative Prospect Theory (CPT) parameters. Finally, we identify 5 anticipatory and 4 reactive adaptation options. The parameters indicate vineyard farmers are strongly risk averse and sensitive to losses, and their determinants are grape area, membership and subjective norms for risk aversion, and age, household size, and education for loss aversion. The main drivers for anticipatory adaptation are network, trust, time to market and area, and the main drivers for reactive adaptation are risk aversion, institutional trust, age and time to market. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Farm Management, International Development |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:275978&r=soc |
| By: | Anja Prummer (Queen Mary University of London); Jan-Peter Siedlarek (Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland) |
| Abstract: | We explain persistent differences in cultural traits of immigrant groups with the presence of community leaders. Leaders influence the cultural traits of their community, which have an impact on the group's earnings. They determine whether a community will be more assimilated and wealthier or less assimilated and poorer. With a leader cultural integration remains incomplete. The leader chooses more distinctive cultural traits in high productivity environments and if the community is more connected. Lump sum transfers to immigrants can hinder cultural integration. These findings are in line with integration patterns of various ethnic and religious groups. |
| Keywords: | Cultural transmission, Leadership, Immigrants, Labor market outcomes, Social influence, Networks |
| JEL: | J15 Z10 D02 |
| Date: | 2016–12–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qmw:qmwecw:806&r=soc |