nep-soc New Economics Papers
on Social Norms and Social Capital
Issue of 2019‒10‒28
seven papers chosen by
Fabio Sabatini
Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza”

  1. Culture or Context? Revisiting the Role of Culture on Economic Outcomes By Adnan, Wifag
  2. Trust in Humans and Robots: Economically Similar but Emotionally Different By Timothy Shields; Eric Schniter; Daniel Sznycer
  3. Relationship Lending during a Trust Crisis on the Interbank Market : A Friend in Need is a Friend Indeed By Hans Degryse; A.O. Karas; Koen Schoors
  4. To share or not to share: A behavioral perspective on human participation in security information sharing By Alain Mermoud; Marcus Keupp; Kévin Huguenin; Maximilian Palmié; Dimitri Percia David
  5. A Game of Hide and Seek in Networks By Bloch, Francis; Dutta, Bhaskar; Dziubinski, Marcin
  6. Trust and reciprocity in youth labor markets By Niall O’Higgins; Marco Stimolo
  7. Feed Thy Neighbour: how Social Ties shape Spillover Effects of Cash Transfers on Food Security and Nutrition By Alessandro Carraro; Lucia Ferrone

  1. By: Adnan, Wifag (New York University, Abu Dhabi)
    Abstract: Past studies have consistently shown that cultural norms predict individual economic outcomes for second-generation US immigrants. However, due to the (mainly) European composition of immigrants prior to the 1965 Immigration Reform Act, most researchers have not accounted for the role of race and ethnicity in identifying culture parameters. Moreover, the majority of studies assume the US is a homogenous region in confronting challenges related to integrating women and disadvantaged minority groups into the labor market. Using recent micro-level data of working-age higher order immigrants, along with detailed local, social capital and source- country measures, allow me to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the relationship between cultural norms and female labor supply. For non-Hispanic Whites, the impact of culture is explained by variation in country-level factors, such as passport power and internationally standardized exam scores. In contrast, for Blacks, the relevant predictors of labor supply are local culture and social capital measures.
    Keywords: culture, gender, race, ethnicity, second-generation immigrants, female labor supply, selection-bias
    JEL: Z10 P16
    Date: 2019–10
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp12692&r=all
  2. By: Timothy Shields (Economic Science Institute, Chapman University; Argyros School of Business and Economics, Chapman University); Eric Schniter (Economic Science Institute, Chapman University; Argyros School of Business and Economics, Chapman University); Daniel Sznycer (Department of Psychology, University of Montreal)
    Abstract: Trust-based interactions with robots are increasingly common in the marketplace, workplace, on the road, and in the home. However, a looming concern is that people may not trust robots as they do humans. While trust in fellow humans has been studied extensively, little is known about how people extend trust to robots. Here we compare trust-based investments and emotions from across three nearly identical economic games: human-human trust games, human-robot trust games, and human-robot trust games where the robot decision impacts another human. Robots in our experiment mimic humans: they are programmed to make reciprocity decisions based on previously observed behaviors by humans in analogous situations. We find that people invest similarly in humans and robots. By contrast, the social emotions elicited by the interactions (but not non-social emotions) differed across human and robot trust games, and did so lawfully. Emotional reactions depended on how one’s trust game decision interacted with the partnered agent’s decision, and whether another person was affected economically and emotionally.
    Keywords: Trust; Robots; Artificial Intellgience; Emotion; Experiment
    Date: 2018
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:chu:wpaper:18-22&r=all
  3. By: Hans Degryse; A.O. Karas; Koen Schoors
    Abstract: We exploit uncertainty regarding banks' involvement in money laundering activities as a natural experiment to study the functioning of the interbank market in uncertain times. We show that bank couples with a stronger relationship (i.e., more frequent and reciprocal interactions before the event) are more likely to continue lending to one another, and at lower interest rates. This is in line with a “helping hand†or “flight to friends†hypothesis during crisis.
    Keywords: banks, interbank market, relationship banking, helping-hand hypothesis
    Date: 2019–01
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:use:tkiwps:1904&r=all
  4. By: Alain Mermoud (MILAC - Military Academy at ETH Zurich, HEC Lausanne - Faculté des Hautes Etudes Commerciales (HEC Lausanne)); Marcus Keupp (MILAC - Military Academy at ETH Zurich, ITEM - Institute of Technology Management [St. Gallen] - HSG - University of St.Gallen); Kévin Huguenin (HEC Lausanne - Faculté des Hautes Etudes Commerciales (HEC Lausanne)); Maximilian Palmié (ITEM - Institute of Technology Management [St. Gallen] - HSG - University of St.Gallen); Dimitri Percia David (MILAC - Military Academy at ETH Zurich, HEC Lausanne - Faculté des Hautes Etudes Commerciales (HEC Lausanne))
    Abstract: Security information sharing (SIS) is an activity whereby individuals exchange information that is relevant to analyze or prevent cybersecurity incidents. However, despite technological advances and increased regulatory pressure, individuals still seem reluctant to share security information. Few contributions have addressed this conundrum to date. Adopting an interdisciplinary approach, our study proposes a behavioral framework that theorizes how and why human behavior and SIS may be associated. We use psychometric methods to test these associations, analyzing a unique sample of human Information Sharing and Analysis Centre (ISAC) members who share real security information. We also provide a dual empirical operationalization of SIS by introducing the measures of SIS frequency and intensity. We find significant associations between human behavior and SIS. Thus, the study contributes to clarifying why SIS, while beneficial, is underutilized by pointing to the pivotal role of human behavior for economic outcomes. It therefore extends the growing field of the economics of information security. By the same token, it informs managers and regulators about the significance of human behavior as they propagate goal alignment and shape institutions. Finally, the study defines a broad agenda for future research on SIS.
    Keywords: security information sharing,incentives,psychometrics,economics of information security,behavioural economics,behavioral economics,behavioral psychology
    Date: 2019–08
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-02147702&r=all
  5. By: Bloch, Francis (Universite Paris 1 and Paris School of Economics); Dutta, Bhaskar (University of Warwick and Ashoka University); Dziubinski, Marcin (Institute of Informatics, University of Warsaw)
    Abstract: We propose and study a strategic model of hiding in a network, where the network designer chooses the links and his position in the network facing the seeker who inspects and disrupts the network. We characterize optimal networks for the hider, as well as equilibrium hiding and seeking strategies on these networks. We show that optimal networks are either equivalent to cycles or variants of a core-periphery networks where every node in the periphery is connected to a single node in the core.
    Date: 2019
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wrk:wcreta:53&r=all
  6. By: Niall O’Higgins; Marco Stimolo
    Abstract: In this experiment, we study whether individuals’ labour market state (i.e. employed, student or NEET) affect their trusting and trustworthy behavior. To identify both the effect of labour market state and the effect of information on others’ labour market state over one’s behavior, we implement an experiment with two one-shot trust games with random and anonymous matching: in the first game, subjects receive no information on the counterpart; in the second one, the labour market state of both players is common knowledge. We find that, amongst the different sub-categories of NEETs, the status of unemployed has a markedly negative effect on trust and trustworthiness. Furthermore, precariousness in the labour market results to be as damaging as unemployment for trust and trustworthiness.
    Keywords: Trust game, reciprocity, youth labor market.
    JEL: C91 D31 D90
    Date: 2019–11–13
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eei:rpaper:eeri_rp_2019_13&r=all
  7. By: Alessandro Carraro; Lucia Ferrone
    Abstract: Economic development in Sub Saharan African countries is strongly tied to households’ ability to cope with exogenous events affecting their well-being. Using data from the Lesotho Child Grant Program dataset we provide evidence on whether households’ food security and nutrition are influenced by the presence of a particular network structure, and if there is any spill-over effect of the program on ineligible households living in treated villages. We take advantage of information on money and in-kind transfers to build a set of indicators representing quantitatively and qualitatively the network architecture of each household. We find relevant spill-over effects of the CGP on the food security and nutrition of ineligible households living in treated villages and embedded in a social network.
    Keywords: Cash Transfers, Informal Networks, Randomized Control Trial Experiment, Food and Nutrition Security, Lesotho
    JEL: I31 O12
    Date: 2019
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:frz:wpaper:wp2019_21.rdf&r=all

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