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on Social Norms and Social Capital |
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Issue of 2025–02–10
seven papers chosen by Fabio Sabatini, Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza” |
| By: | Otálvaro-Ramírez, Susana; Scartascini, Carlos; Streb, Jorge M. |
| Abstract: | Transparency initiatives are well-known tools to foster trust and empower citizens. To explain why some governments introduce them but others do not, we model these initiatives as a signal that complements the information provided by visible government performance and conduct a randomized survey experiment in the City of Buenos Aires, Argentina, where the incumbent mayor made a set of post-electoral promises. In a setting with relatively high trust priors, our results show that these initiatives matter in shaping citizens' perceptions of the reputation of the government. We find, however, strong heterogeneity among three groups of citizens. A group unfamiliar with the policy was impervious to treatment: they seem to react to deeds, not words, and have, on average, lower initial trust. The treatment effects are entirely through those vaguely familiar with the promises, closing the average gap in trust with those familiar with the promises. More generally, our study suggests that transparency initiatives may be an effective signal, though their informational value may be more limited than visible public performance. |
| JEL: | D72 D78 D82 D83 H41 |
| Date: | 2025–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:brikps:13970 |
| By: | Nikolova, Milena (University of Groningen); Angrisani, Marco (University of Southern California) |
| Abstract: | Can people develop trust in Artificial Intelligence (AI) by learning about its developments? We conducted a survey experiment in a nationally representative panel survey in the United States (N = 1, 491) to study whether exposure to news about AI influences trust differently than learning about non-AI scientific advancements. The results show that people trust AI advancements less than non-AI scientific developments, with significant variations across domains. The mistrust of AI is the smallest in medicine, a high-stakes domain, and largest in the area of personal relationships. The key mediators are context- specific: fear is the most critical mediator for linguistics, excitement for medicine, and societal benefit for dating. Personality traits do not affect trust differences in the linguistics domain. In medicine, mistrust of AI is higher among respondents with high agreeableness and neuroticism scores. In personal relationships, mistrust of AI is strongest among individuals with high openness, conscientiousness, and agreeableness. Furthermore, mistrust of AI advancements is higher among women than men, as well as among older, White, and US-born individuals. Our results have implications for tailored communication strategies about AI advancements in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. |
| Keywords: | Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT), survey experiment, Artificial Intelligence (AI), trust, United States |
| JEL: | C91 D83 O33 Z10 |
| Date: | 2025–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17635 |
| By: | Brice Fabre (aParis School of Economics (PSE) and Institut des Politiques Publiques (IPP)); Marc Sangnier (Aix Marseille Univ, CNRS, AMSE, Marseille, France) |
| Abstract: | This paper uses French data to simultaneously estimate the impact of two types of connections on government subsidies allocated to municipalities. Investigating different types of connection in a same setting helps to distinguish between the different motivations that could drive pork-barreling. We differentiate between municipalities where ministers held office before their appointment to the government and those where they lived as children. Exploiting ministers’ entries into and exits from the government, we show that municipalities where a minister was mayor receive 30% more investment subsidies when the politician they are linked to joins the government, and a similar size decrease when the minister departs. In contrast, we do not observe these outcomes for municipalities where ministers lived as children. These findings indicate that altruism towards childhood friends and family does not fuel pork-barreling, and suggest that altruism toward adulthood social relations or career concerns matter. We also present complementary evidence suggesting that observed pork-barreling is the result of soft influence of ministers, rather than of their formal control over the administration they lead. |
| Keywords: | Local favouritism, distributive politics, Political Connections, personal connections. |
| JEL: | D72 D73 H50 H77 |
| Date: | 2024–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aim:wpaimx:2434 |
| By: | Grover, Arti (World Bank); Viollaz, Mariana (CEDLAS-UNLP) |
| Abstract: | This paper provides evidence on the nature of financial constraints faced by women entrepreneurs, especially in contexts of stringent social norms. Using micro-data from the World Bank Enterprise Surveys for 61 countries, the analysis shows that formal firms managed by women do not face credit constraints on the extensive margin. They are equally likely to apply for credit as their male counterparts and experience lower rates of credit rejection, with a higher likelihood of opening credit lines. However, on the intensive margin, firms managed by women receive lower credit amounts, indicating signs of credit constraints. This disparity in access to credit cannot be explained by gender differences in risk profiles, profitability, or productivity. However, firms managed by women have lower sales per worker, suggesting challenges in accessing product and labor markets. The paper finds suggestive evidence of capital misallocation based on gender, particularly in countries with more restrictive gender and cultural norms. Firms managed by women demonstrate a 15 percent higher average return on capital compared to firms managed by men, indicating the potential benefits of increased access to credit for women-led businesses. These findings emphasize the importance of addressing gender-specific constraints to accessing finance and promoting gender-inclusive policies to enhance firm growth and reduce capital misallocation. |
| Keywords: | firms, credit, capital misallocation, gender, social and cultural norms |
| JEL: | D22 D24 J16 |
| Date: | 2025–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17630 |
| By: | Asto, Richard; Ortiz Sosa, Marco Antonio; Ruelas-Huanca, Walter |
| Abstract: | This paper develops a general equilibrium framework that integrates heterogeneous firms with both idiosyncratic productivity and subjective beliefs about public goods provision—specifically, confidence in institutional quality—alongside endogenous informality. We examine the impact of tax policy on the formalization process and highlight the crucial role of firms' trust in public institutions. Our findings reveal that when firms perceive the government as credible, an increase in both tax rates and tax revenues enhances public goods provision, fostering greater formalization. However, in environments with weak institutional trust, formalization policies may yield suboptimal economic outcomes—potentially even worsening conditions compared to scenarios with higher trust levels. This underscores how institutional confidence influences the productivity of formal firms and facilitates their transition into the formal sector. In the long run, effective tax policy can improve overall welfare, but its success is contingent on government credibility. Our research contributes to the literature on informality by providing novel insights for policymakers seeking to enhance formalization and economic welfare, particularly in settings where skepticism about government commitment and institutional capacity prevails. |
| Keywords: | Informality, Optimal Tax Policy, Entrepreneurship, Tax Evasion |
| JEL: | E26 E62 H26 |
| Date: | 2025–01–29 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:123490 |
| By: | Henning Hermes; Marina Krauß; Philipp Lergetporer; Frauke Peter; Simon Wiederhold |
| Abstract: | This field experiment investigates the causal impact of mothers’ perceptions of gender norms on their employment attitudes and labor-supply expectations. We provide mothers of young children in Germany with information about the prevailing gender norm regarding maternal employment in their city. At baseline, over 70% of mothers incorrectly perceive this gender norm as too conservative. Our randomized treatment improves the accuracy of these perceptions, significantly reducing the share of mothers who misperceive gender norms as overly conservative. The treatment also shifts mothers’ own labor-market attitudes towards being more liberal—and we show that specifically the shifted attitude is a strong predictor of mothers’ future labor-market participation. Consistently, treated mothers are significantly more likely to plan an increase in their working hours one year ahead. |
| Keywords: | gender norms, maternal employment, gender equality, randomized controlled trial |
| JEL: | J16 J18 J22 C93 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp1216 |
| By: | Robert Gold; Jakob Lehr |
| Abstract: | This paper shows that regional policies can decrease populist support. We focus on the "development objective" ("Objective-1") of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), meant to support lagging-behind regions. For causal inference, we exploit three sources of quasi-exogenous variation in a Regression-Discontinuity-Design (RDD), a Difference-in- Differences framework (DiD), and with matching techniques. Using NUTS3-level panel data on the outcomes of elections to the EU parliament, observed over the period 1999-2019, we consistently find that Objective-1 transfers reduces the vote share of right-fringe parties by about 2.5 pp. Left-fringe party support is not affected. Complementary analyses of individual-level survey data from the Eurobarometer show that the European Union’s regional policy increases trust in democratic institutions and decreases discontent with the EU. |
| Keywords: | Populism, Regional Policies, European Integration, Regression Discontinuity Design |
| JEL: | D72 H54 R11 R58 |
| Date: | 2025–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bon:boncrc:crctr224_2025_638 |