|
on Social Norms and Social Capital |
|
Issue of 2024‒09‒02
eight papers chosen by Fabio Sabatini, Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza” |
| By: | Pablo Brañas-Garza; Antonio Cabrales; María Paz Espinosa; Teresa García-Muñoz |
| Abstract: | In this paper we explore how individual social preferences correlate with political support for redistribution. We ran an incentivized experiment with a large representative sample of the Spanish population. Our participants took six decisions that elicited their social preferences. Their choices could result in a different total surplus and different distributions of the surplus between the subject and an anonymous counterpart. In our sample, social preferences are unrelated to political support for distributive policies. The main correlates for support of redistribution are the beliefs concerning the importance of effort versus luck for success (fairness), the trust in government institutions (effectiveness) and the perceived importance of the poverty problem (need). |
| Keywords: | elicitation of social preferences, income distribution and politics, trust in government institutions |
| JEL: | C93 D31 D72 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11238 |
| By: | Patrick Allmis |
| Abstract: | Agents with different ideologies often form alliances to achieve their goals. Paradoxically, ideologically similar agents are often opponents. In this paper, ideologically heterogeneous agents choose the ideological composition of their neighborhood, their tolerance, and invest into connections. The resulting weighted network describes allies, opponents, and strengths. Disputes with opponents determine benefits, which increase in an agent's strength and cohesion. Cohesive agents have fewer mutual allies with opponents. In equilibrium, the network is segregated when cohesion is effective enough and some agents tolerate ideologically distant types to oppose closer ones. Subsidizing connections dampens polarization in societies on the verge of segregation. |
| Date: | 2024–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2407.14045 |
| By: | Fazio, Andrea; Giaccherini, Matilde |
| Abstract: | Building on social identity theory, we suggest that natives from stereotyped groups tend to value cultural distance more and think that immigrants are not good for the economy and the fiscal system. We draw upon research showing that overweight and obese individuals suffer from social stigma and discrimination and we investigate the relationship between high body mass and attitudes toward immigrants in Europe. We exploit the appointment of the Belgian Minister of Health to provide causal evidence that stigmatization and stereotyping contribute to negative attitudes toward immigrants. Furthermore, a survey experiment shows that individuals with a higher body mass index prioritize cultural factors over economic ones when facing immigrants. |
| Keywords: | Attitudes toward Immigrants, Social Identity Theory, Stigma |
| JEL: | J14 J15 J71 Z1 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:1470 |
| By: | Eickmeier, Sandra; Petersen, Luba |
| Abstract: | We examine public trust in the European Central Bank (ECB) and its determinants using data from the Bundesbank Household Panel survey for Germany. Employing an interdisciplinary approach that integrates insights from political science and psychology, we offer a fresh perspective on the factors influencing central bank trust that is more holistic than the conventional one. Our primary findings can be summarized as follows. Households who state that competence, which we define as the ECB's performance in maintaining stable prices and making decisions grounded in rules, science, and data, matters for their trust in the ECB, tend to express higher trust in the ECB. Conversely, those who place greater importance on values, particularly the integrity of top central bankers, honest communication and broader concern, tend to trust the ECB less. Trust in the ECB also hinges on trust in political institutions more generally and, to a lesser extent, on generalized trust (i.e. trust in others). |
| Keywords: | Central banks, trust, survey, central bank communication, values, competence, experiences, credibility |
| JEL: | E7 E58 E59 C93 D84 Z13 Z18 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:bubdps:300702 |
| By: | Luo , Wei (Jinan University); Huang, Wei (Peking University); Park, Albert (Asian Development Bank) |
| Abstract: | We study the influence of social norms in determining the impact of early life exposure to the Great Chinese Famine of 1959–1961 on gender inequality. We model how social norms interact with adverse shocks to affect male and female survival chances and influence subsequent human capital investments. We test these predictions empirically by using the Fifth National Population Census of the People’s Republic of China in 2000 that has information on birthplace and estimate a difference-in-differences model that combines cohort and regional variation in exposure to the famine with regional variation in the culture of son preference. We find that son preference buffers the negative impact of intrauterine famine shocks on cohort male-to-female sex ratios and reduces famine’s impact on gender inequality in health and education. |
| Keywords: | famine; son preference; sex ratios; human capital investment |
| JEL: | I24 I26 J13 J16 |
| Date: | 2024–08–16 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:adbewp:0738 |
| By: | Gangl, Markus |
| Abstract: | The paper uses unique and cross-nationally comparative survey data from the European Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) to examine the stratification of marriage and partnership markets by partners’ social origins. Across birth cohorts, socio-economic boundaries in partnership markets have been weakening as societies have become more prosperous. At the same time, rising inequality is found to enhance the value of social origins in partnership markets, thus confirming Peter Blau’s basic saliency theorem. These twin effects of the aggregate income distribution emerge consistently for broad social classes, parental level of education, occupational status, and household disposable incomes as operational measures of respondents’ social origins. Educational and class homogamy in the child generation are providing partial explanations for the observed patterns, but sizable unexplained residuals suggest that attention to factors like residential segregation or the social segregation of leisure activities is required to more fully understand the relationship between inequality and the social structure of contact opportunities. The analyses furthermore specifically reveal that aggregate income levels in adolescence, but inequality in standards of living in the child generation’s adult life are the relevant structural drivers of social reproduction in marriage and partnership markets. |
| Date: | 2024–07–23 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:pfv6w |
| By: | Amore, Mario Daniele (HEC Paris); Miller, Danny (HEC Montreal) |
| Abstract: | Although family firms are ubiquitous, their prevalence displays major geographic disparities and their performance differs across regions. We review an extensive literature in economics and finance showing that formal institutional factors play a key role in explaining variations in the diffusion of family firms and their performance. We also review a more neglected but rapidly emerging stream of research focusing on culture as a source of these variations. By providing a framework for current theories, findings and methods, we demonstrate how cultural elements such as trust, religion, family values and collectivism provide useful answers to where and why family firms exist and how well they perform. |
| Keywords: | family firms; culture; trust; social capital |
| JEL: | G34 |
| Date: | 2023–04–17 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ebg:heccah:1487 |
| By: | Della Guardia, Anne Chartron; Lake, Milli May; Saidi, Mira |
| Abstract: | The rapid expansion of social safety nets in contexts affected by violence, fragility and forced displacement raises questions about whether such programs can relieve the worst forms of insecurity and vulnerability in affected communities. To answer this question, the authors analyze 394 qualitative interviews from Burkina Faso and Cameroon (West and Central Africa). As the first study of its kind conducting cross-country comparative research in varied security contexts, the authors posit three channels – material, social, and political – through which social protection can shape experiences of violence, fragility and forced displacement. The authors found that social assistance, or social safety nets, built resilience by smoothing consumption and relieving the pressure of unanticipated shocks while programs were ongoing. However, because many of the most vulnerable inhabitants directed transfer spending towards immediate subsistence needs, safety nets rarely resulted in additional income-generating opportunities or enduring material effects beyond the program’s conclusion. Although trends diverged across regions and security contexts, the authors identified tentative evidence of social and political effects, in the form of expanded social networks, cohesion and interdependence among some beneficiary groups, and greater confidence in existing institutions when beneficiaries attributed the safety net to the government. The authors examined these impacts across regions facing distinct levels and types of insecurity. |
| Date: | 2024–06–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:hdnspu:192987 |