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on Social Norms and Social Capital |
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Issue of 2024‒11‒18
eleven papers chosen by Fabio Sabatini, Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza” |
| By: | Rustagi, Devesh (University of Warwick) |
| Abstract: | Does self-governance, a hallmark of democratic societies, foster norms of generalized cooperation? Does this effect persist, and if so, why? I investigate these questions using a natural experiment in Switzerland. In the middle-ages, the absence of an heir resulted in the extinction of a prominent noble dynasty. As a result, some Swiss municipalities became self-governing, whereas the others remained under feudalism for another 600 years. Evidence from a behavioral experiment, World Values Survey, and Swiss Household Panel consistently shows that individuals from historically self-governing municipalities exhibit stronger norms of cooperation today. Referenda data on voter-turnout allow me to trace these effects on individually costly and socially beneficial actions for over 150 years. Furthermore, norms of cooperation map into prosocial behaviors like charitable giving and environmental protection. Uniquely, Switzerland tracks every family’s place of origin in registration data, which I use to demonstrate persistence from cultural transmission in a context of historically low migration. |
| Keywords: | Self-governance, norms of cooperation, cultural transmission, public goods game, referendum, Switzerland JEL Classification: D02, H41, N43, Z10 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cge:wacage:718 |
| By: | Arkadev Ghosh; Prerna Kundu; Matt Lowe; Gareth Nellis; Matthew Lowe |
| Abstract: | Non-family-based institutions for socializing young people may play a vital role in creating close-knit, inclusive communities. We study the potential for youth camps—integrating rituals, sports, and civics training—to strengthen intergroup cohesion. We randomly assigned Hindu and Muslim adolescent boys, from West Bengal, India, to two-week camps or to a pure control arm. To isolate mechanisms, we cross-randomized collective rituals (such as singing the national anthem, wearing uniforms, chanting support during matches, and synchronous dancing) and the intensity of intergroup contact. We find that camps reduce ingroup bias, increase willingness to interact with outgroup members, and enhance psychological well-being. Campers continue to have more than twice as many outgroup friends than control participants one year after the camps ended. Meanwhile, additional camp elements have heterogeneous effects: rituals have more positive impacts for the Hindu majority than the Muslim minority, while higher intergroup contact backfires among Hindus but not Muslims. Our findings demonstrate that inclusive youth camps may be a powerful tool for bridging deep social divides. Yet, we also highlight the conceptual challenges in crafting optimal integrative camps that help all groups. |
| Keywords: | intergroup contact, rituals, curriculum, youth camps, discrimination, ingroup bias, civic values |
| JEL: | J15 C93 D91 I10 Z12 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11352 |
| By: | Di Cocco, Jessica (European University Institute); Levi, Eugenio (Link Campus University); Mariani, Rama Dasi (Roma Tre University); Stillman, Steven (Free University of Bozen/Bolzano) |
| Abstract: | Existing research has identified several economic and cultural determinants of populist voting. We focus on a related explanation: whether populist leaders are able to capitalize on a sense of distrust between individuals. There is currently limited causal evidence on the relationship between interpersonal trust and support for populist parties, and the underlying mechanisms driving this relationship are not well understood. Using three distinct causal identification strategies, each grounded in different assumptions, we find consistent evidence that a deficit in trust significantly bolsters support for populist political parties throughout Europe. Notably, this influence extends beyond ideological boundaries, encompassing both far-right and far-left populist parties. |
| Keywords: | populism, trust, immigration |
| JEL: | D72 P00 |
| Date: | 2024–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17342 |
| By: | García-Lembergman, Ezequiel; Hajdini, Ina; Leer, John; Pedemonte, Mathieu; Schoenle, Raphael |
| Abstract: | Using a novel dataset that integrates inflation expectations with information on social network connections, we show that inflation expectations within one's social network have a positive, causal relationship with individual inflation expectations. This relationship is stronger for groups that share common demographic characteristics such as gender, income, or political affiliation and when salient information disseminates through the network. In a monetary union New-Keynesian model, socially determined inflation expectations induce imperfect risk-sharing and can affect the inflation and real output propagation of local and aggregate shocks. To reduce welfare losses due to socially determined expectations, monetary policy should optimally put more weight on the inflation rate of socially more connected regions. |
| Keywords: | Inflation expectations;Social network;Monetary union |
| JEL: | E31 E71 C83 |
| Date: | 2024–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:brikps:13787 |
| By: | Chiara Lodi; Agnese Sacchi; Francesco Vidoli |
| Abstract: | We investigated the impact of female politicians on waste collection in Italian municipalities in different territories observed over the years 2010-2019. We used a staggered difference-in-differences design to obtain a causal interpretation of the estimated effects. We find that the majority of women in the municipal council positively influence pro-environmental individual behaviour. The impact of a female-majority council is heterogeneous by region and more pronounced in areas with lower social capital. Female politicians as catalysts for positive change fade after 5-6 years, likely due to persistent social norms locally, thus stressing the need for additional cultural actions with long-lasting effects. |
| Date: | 2024–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2410.06091 |
| By: | Andreas Fridolin Buehler; Patrick Lehnert; Uschi Backes-Gellner |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes how social gender norms affect the innovation gender gap, part of which stems from an underrepresentation of women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education. This underrepresentation is traceable to gender-biased educational and occupational choices. One determinant for such biased choices is social gender norms, which also directly affect the innovation gender gap. We disentangle the direct effect of social gender norms from their indirect effect via educational and occupational choices. Combining municipality-level voting data as a measure for social gender norms with patent data as a measure for innovation outcomes, we apply structural equation modeling. Our results show that more traditional gender norms are associated with a significantly lower number of patents filed by women and that the indirect effect via educational and occupational choices accounts for 5.5% of the total effect. These results are crucial for policymakers: while social gender norms are highly persistent and difficult to change in the short term, promoting greater gender equality in educational and occupational choices can be achieved more quickly and may therefore yield important short-term reductions in the innovation gender gap. |
| Keywords: | Gender, Education, Occupational Choices, Innovation |
| Date: | 2024–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iso:educat:0230 |
| By: | Boinet, Césarine (University of Strathclyde); Norris, Jonathan (University of Strathclyde); Romiti, Agnese (University of Strathclyde) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we examine how pre-birth gender norms shape women's labor market trajectories and occupational choices around motherhood in the United Kingdom. Using data from the British Household Panel Survey, we first quantify the impact of gender norms on earnings and labor supply post-childbirth. Our results show that traditional mothers experience a 18-percentage-point (pp) higher motherhood penalty in earnings and a 20-pp lower motherhood penalty in hours worked compared to egalitarian mothers. Second, we investigate the role of pre-birth comparative advantage within couples, finding that this mechanism applies only to egalitarian parents. Third, we examine the interaction between occupational characteristics, including their degree of familyfriendliness, and pre-birth gender norms. We find that accounting for occupational sorting significantly reduces the average earnings penalty for both traditional and egalitarian mothers, driven entirely by hours worked for traditional mothers. In addition, we show that occupational sorting explains 80% of the short-run earnings penalty gap between traditional and egalitarian mothers and eliminates the difference in hours worked penalties entirely. Thus, traditional women seem to sort pre-birth into occupations that facilitate a larger reduction in hours worked post-motherhood, which in turn have a substantial impact on their earnings trajectory. |
| Keywords: | gender norms, occupational sorting, motherhood penalty |
| JEL: | J16 J22 J24 |
| Date: | 2024–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17334 |
| By: | Danilo Cavapozzi; Marco Francesconi; Cheti Nicoletti |
| Abstract: | Using UK longitudinal data on dual-earner couples, this paper estimates a model of intrahousehold housework decisions, which combines a randomized experimental framework eliciting counterfactual choices with gender norms differences across ethnicities and cohorts to identify the impacts of individual preferences and gender identity norms. Equal sharing of tasks yields greater utility for both men and women, with women disliking domestic chores as much as men. Although couples would want to use housework arrangements to compensate for differentials in labor market involvement, women end up performing a substantially larger share of housework. This is not due to specialization, rather social norms play a key role. Exposure to more egalitarian gender attitudes significantly increases the probability of choosing an equal share of housework. Were attitudes evened up to the most progressive levels observed in the sample, women doing more housework than their partners would stop to be the norm already among present-day households, except for households with children. |
| Keywords: | intrahousehold allocation of chores, labor supply, vignettes, gender identity norms, gender gaps |
| JEL: | C25 C26 D13 J16 J22 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11413 |
| By: | Nurfatima Jandarova (Tampere University, Finnish Centre of Excellence in Tax Systems Research (FIT)); Aldo Rustichini (University of Minnesota) |
| Abstract: | Political behavior of citizens includes political participation and preferences. We show with UK data that political behavior is affected by individual characteristics that are also determining educational attainment, including cognitive abilities and intelligence. Our analysis reconciles the rational choice assumption with the acquisition of costly political information, which would otherwise give only negligible benefits. We disentangle the causal pathways by identifying effects operating directly and those operating indirectly, in particular through education and income. We address the issue of endogeneity of cognitive skills using polygenic scores, and show that an important component of the causal factors is genetic. |
| Keywords: | political participation, party preferences, human capital, intelligence, individual characteristics, polygenic score |
| JEL: | D72 I25 J31 |
| Date: | 2024–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fit:wpaper:25 |
| By: | Cyril Chambefort (Université Jean Monnet Saint-Etienne, CNRS, Université Lumière Lyon 2, emlyon business school, GATE, 69007, Lyon, France); Magali Chaudey (Université Jean Monnet Saint-Etienne, CNRS, Université Lumière Lyon 2, emlyon business school, GATE, 69007, Lyon, France) |
| Abstract: | The paper studies DAOs (Decentralized Autonomous Organizations), which are based on blockchain technology, emphasizing that they rely on a complex, multi-level trust framework that extends beyond purely technological trust. We define DAOs as digital blockchain-based organizations powered by open virtual networks of contributors. Their coordination and management are decentralized, without any central control. This structure allows peers to work autonomously on a token-based system of on-chain coordination, where rules are self-executed using smart-contracts and off-chain coordination mechanisms. The study of DAOs reveals the emergence of a particular form of trust, “trust in code”. Our contribution is threefold: First, we provide an empirical study of Uniswap DAO, the largest decentralized finance network. Secondly, we demonstrate that a complementarity exists in the notion of trust production in such networks, which includes trust in technology, but also personal trust developed outside the blockchain. Finally, the study of this particular network, combining multi-level trust, leads us to explore approaches in terms of social capital. Our description of the Uniswap network suggests that it both requires and enables the accumulation of social capital, in its relational, structural, and cognitive dimensions. |
| Keywords: | Blockchain, Smart-contract, DAO (Decentralised Autonomous Organisation), Uniswap, Trust |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gat:wpaper:2416 |
| By: | Pei Kuang; Michael Weber; Shihan Xie |
| Abstract: | We conduct a survey experiment with a large, politically representative sample of U.S. consumers (5, 205 participants) to study how perceptions of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s (Fed) political stance shape macroeconomic expectations and trust in the Fed. The public is divided on the Fed’s political leaning: most Republican-leaning consumers believe the Fed favors Democrats, whereas most Democrat-leaning consumers perceive the Fed as favoring Republicans. Consumers who perceive the Fed as aligned with their political affiliations tend to (1) have a more positive outlook on current and future economic conditions and express higher trust in the institution, (2) show greater willingness to pay for and are more likely to receive Fed communications, and (3) assign significantly more weight to Fed communications when updating their inflation expectations. Strong in-group favoritism generally amplifies these effects. Finally, if Trump were elected U.S. president, consumers would overwhelmingly view the Fed as favoring Republicans. The proportion of consumers viewing the Fed as an in-group would remain stable, but its composition would shift: Democrat-leaning consumers would see the Fed as less of an in-group, whereas more Republican-leaning consumers would perceive it in this way. Likewise, overall public trust in the Fed would remain steady, but trust among Democrat-leaning consumers would decline significantly, whereas it would rise among Republican-leaning consumers. |
| JEL: | D72 D83 D84 E31 E7 |
| Date: | 2024–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:33071 |