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on Social Norms and Social Capital |
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Issue of 2025–06–16
ten papers chosen by Fabio Sabatini, Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza” |
| By: | Maurizio Bussolo; Jonah Matthew Rexer; Lynn Hu |
| Abstract: | Legal institutions play an important role in shaping gender equality in economic domains, from inheritance to labor markets. But where do gender equal laws come from? Using cross-country data on social norms and legal equality, this paper investigates the socio- cultural roots of gender inequity in the legal system and its implications for female labor force participation. To identify the impact of social norms, the analysis uses an empirical strategy that exploits pre-modern differences in ancestral patriarchal culture as an instrument for present-day gender norms. The findings show that ancestral patriarchal culture is a strong predictor of contemporary norms, and conservative social norms are associated with more gender inequality in the de jure legal framework, the de facto implementation of laws, and the labor market. The paper presents evidence for a political selection mechanism linking norms to laws: countries with more conservative norms elect political leaders who are more hostile to gender equality, who then pass less progressive legislation. The results highlight the cultural roots and political drivers of legalized gender inequality. |
| Date: | 2025–05–29 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:11135 |
| By: | Heidland, Tobias; Wichardt, Philipp C. |
| Abstract: | This paper connects insights from the literature on cosmopolitan worldviews and the effects of perspective-taking in political science, (intergroup) anxiety in social psychology, and identity economics in a vignette-style experiment. In particular, we asked German respondents about their attitudes towards a Syrian refugee, randomizing components of his description (N = 662). The main treatment describes the refugee as being aware of and empathetic towards potential worries in the German population about cultural change, costs, and violence associated with refugee inflows. This perspective-taking by the refugee increases the reported ability to empathize with the refugee and, especially for risk-averse people, reported sympathy and trust. We argue that acknowledging the potential concerns of the host population relieves the tension between an anxious and a cosmopolitan/open part of people’s identities. Moreover, relieved tension renders people less defensive; i.e. when one aspect of identity is already acknowledged (expressing anxieties), it has less influence on actual behavior (expressing sympathy). In addition, previous contact with foreigners and a higher willingness to take risks are important factors in determining an individual’s willingness to interact with refugees. |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ifwkie:318201 |
| By: | Leonardo Bursztyn; Matthew Gentzkow; Rafael Jiménez-Durán; Aaron Leonard; Filip Milojević; Christopher Roth |
| Abstract: | Market definition is essential for antitrust analysis, but challenging in settings with network effects, where substitution patterns depend on changes in network size. To address this challenge, we conduct an incentivized experiment to measure substitution patterns for TikTok, a popular social media platform. Our experiment, conducted during a time of high uncertainty about a potential U.S. TikTok ban, compares changes in the valuation of other social apps under individual and collective TikTok deactivations. Consistent with a simple framework, the valuations of alternative social apps increase more in response to a collective TikTok ban than to an individual TikTok deactivation. Our framework and estimates highlight that individual and collective treatments can even lead to qualitatively different conclusions about which alternative goods are substitutes. |
| JEL: | D85 L0 L40 |
| Date: | 2025–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:33901 |
| By: | Frédéric Deroïan (Aix-Marseille Univ., CNRS, AMSE, Marseille); Mohamed Belhaj (Aix-Marseille Univ., CNRS, AMSE, Marseille) |
| Abstract: | This paper introduces demotivation in the context of social comparison in networks. Social comparison is modeled as a status effect rewarding or penalizing agents according to their relative performance with respect to local peers. A demotivated agent faces both a reduced marginal return to effort and a psychological cost. In the absence of demotivation, social comparison leads to higher effort levels but reduces equilibrium welfare. Introducing demotivation leads to two main findings. First, it generates a network game of strategic substitutes. Second, despite the individual psychological costs incurred by demotivated agents, it can enhance overall welfare—by alleviating social pressure to exert effort and by generating positive externalities for peers. |
| Keywords: | Social Comparison; Demotivation; Networks; Strategic Substitutes, Equilibrium Welfare. |
| JEL: | C72 D83 D85 |
| Date: | 2025–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aim:wpaimx:2511 |
| By: | Kleemann, Linda; Semrau, Finn Ole |
| Abstract: | Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) can reduce information asymmetries and thereby promote rural development for smallholder farmers in developing countries. Despite rising adoption rates of ICTs, many smallholders remain information constraint. Using panel data from 12, 456 smallholder households across 12 developing countries, we analyze the role of social ties in determining ICT adoption and access to agricultural extension services. We find that weak social ties significantly reduce ICT adoption and access to agricultural advice, increasing information inequality. Moreover, ICT adoption, strong social ties and extension services positively correlate with agricultural productivity. Our findings highlight that ICTs, while transformative, may reinforce existing inequalities by marginalizing already disadvantaged smallholders. |
| Keywords: | ICT4D, Digital divide, Social ties, Extension services, Agricultural rural development |
| JEL: | O1 O3 Q19 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ifwkie:318202 |
| By: | Johannes Buggle; Max Deter; Martin Lange |
| Abstract: | This paper examines how network ties between local social leaders influenced the diffusion of mass protests in an autocracy. We focus on the Protestant Church and the Peaceful Revolution in East Germany. To quantify the role of leader networks in protest diffusion, we compile biographical records of over 1, 600 Protestant pastors, including their employment and education histories. Our findings reveal that network connections led to an increase in protest diffusion by up to 4.9 percentage points in a given week. Moreover, we highlight the importance of network centrality, pastors as information bridges, and the interaction with preexisting grievances and repression. |
| Keywords: | autocracy, religion, protests, networks, leaders |
| JEL: | D72 D74 N44 P16 |
| Date: | 2025–04–29 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdp:dpaper:0064 |
| By: | Dickinson, David L. (Appalachian State University); Villeval, Marie Claire (CNRS) |
| Abstract: | We investigate how group identity affects belief updating about moral norms. Using a Belief Updating task, we found that individuals follow a cautious version of Bayesian updating. Group identity itself does not directly affect belief updating. However, when given an information signal about the truthfulness of a normative statement that is dissonant with one’s perceived norm, individuals differ in their resistance to updating beliefs. This difference depends on whether the statement reflects moral norm judgments from people with the same or different political affiliation, and whether the signal supports or opposes honesty. This highlights the importance of understanding how one updates beliefs regarding moral norms, and how the group identity of those making normative judgments can be an important consideration. |
| Keywords: | online experiment, group identity, belief updating, social norms, cheating |
| JEL: | C91 D83 D91 |
| Date: | 2025–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17892 |
| By: | Ruixue Jia; James Kai-sing Kung |
| Abstract: | This study reviews the culture and institutions of Confucianism and explores their implications for the trajectory of China’s historical development. We trace the origins and evolution of the core elements of Confucianism and synthesize research on its relationship to clan culture, state institutions, and a broad array of societal values. We also highlight promising but underexplored directions for future research. While Confucianism is often invoked to explain China’s absence from the Industrial Revolution and its lack of democratization, we caution against such retrospective determinism. As a multidimensional and abstract tradition, Confucianism likely allows for varied interpretations and institutional adaptations across time and context. |
| JEL: | N15 O43 P51 Z10 Z13 |
| Date: | 2025–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:33883 |
| By: | Debora Princepe; Onofrio Mazzarisi; Erol Akcay; Simon A. Levin; Matteo Marsili |
| Abstract: | Happiness, in the U.S. Declaration of Independence, was understood quite differently from today's popular notions of personal pleasure. Happiness implies a flourishing life - one of virtue, purpose, and contribution to the common good. This paper studies populations of individuals - that we call homo-felix - who maximise an objective function that we call happiness. The happiness of one individual depends on the payoffs that they receive in games they play with their peers as well as on the happiness of the peers they interact with. Individuals care more or less about others depending on whether that makes them more or less happy. This paper analyses the happiness feedback loops that result from these interactions in simple settings. We find that individuals tend to care more about individuals who are happier than what they would be by being selfish. In simple 2 x 2 game theoretic settings, we show that homo-felix can converge to a variety of equilibria which includes but goes beyond Nash equilibria. In an n-persons public good game we show that the non-cooperative Nash equilibrium is marginally unstable and a single individual who develops prosocial behaviour is able to drive almost the whole population to a cooperative state. |
| Date: | 2025–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2506.10537 |
| By: | Pol Campos-Mercade; Claes Ek; Magnus Soderberg; Florian H. Schneider |
| Abstract: | Standard economic theory assumes that consumers ignore the externalities they create, such as emissions from burning fossil fuels and generating waste. In an incentivized study (N = 3, 718), we find that most people forgo substantial gains to avoid imposing negative externalities on others. Using administrative data on household waste, we show a clear link between such prosociality and waste behavior: prosociality predicts lower residual waste generation and higher waste sorting. Prosociality also predicts survey-reported pro-environmental behaviors such as lowering indoor temperature, limiting air travel, and consuming eco-friendly products. These findings highlight the importance of considering social preferences in environmental policy. |
| Keywords: | social preferences, prosociality, environmental behaviors, externalities |
| JEL: | D01 D62 Q53 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11895 |