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on Social Norms and Social Capital |
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Issue of 2025–08–11
eight papers chosen by Fabio Sabatini, Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza” |
| By: | Samuel Bazzi; Martin Fiszbein |
| Abstract: | This chapter explores the impacts of migrants on the culture of their destinations. Migrants often assimilate to local social norms and practices, but they also tend to maintain their own culture. Sometimes, beyond preserving their culture, they influence their new neighbors. We propose a conceptual framework to understand when migrants shape culture at their destination—and how. We identify two key conditions for influence (ideological intensity and power structure) and three channels of influence (cultural spillovers, organizational mobilization, and political leverage). We combine insights from political economy, social psychology, and evolutionary approaches to illuminate pathways of influence in historical perspective. Our review offers a new perspective on the mechanisms of cultural transmission, using illustrative cases to characterize the various ways in which migrants shape culture in their destinations. |
| JEL: | D02 F22 J15 N30 P00 Z10 Z13 |
| Date: | 2025–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34001 |
| By: | Francesco Berlingieri (European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC); Global Labor Organization (GLO)); Béatrice d’Hombres (European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC)); Matija Kovacic (European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC); Ca’ Foscari University of Venice; Global Labor Organization (GLO)) |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the relationship between loneliness, trust, and populist voting across both extremes of the ideological spectrum. The contribution of this research is mainly two-fold. First, it considers different dimensions of loneliness and accounts for its predetermined component stemming from social isolation in childhood and adverse childhood experiences. Second, it disentangles the effects of loneliness and trust by incorporating actual trust behaviour from a large-scale trust game experiment conducted in 27 European member states, involving more than 25, 000 individuals. The richness of the data allows to account for and disentangle the impact of competitive explanatory factors such as emotions, objective social isolation, social media use and economic preferences. The main findings suggest the following: (i) social loneliness significantly impacts populist voting, particularly on the extreme right, whereas the emotional dimension of loneliness is associated with more left-leaning, but non-populist, voting preferences; (ii) higher levels of actual trust are associated with lower support for right-wing populist parties; (iii) loneliness and trust operate through distinct channels: loneliness exerts a greater impact on women and older individuals, while trust plays a more significant role among men and middle-aged individuals, and (iv) the effect of social loneliness on support of populist parties is significantly attenuated in contexts with a history of recurrent economic crises, suggesting a potential experience-based learning mechanism. |
| Keywords: | Loneliness, interpersonal trust, political polarisation, populism |
| JEL: | D72 D91 P00 C91 Z13 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ven:wpaper:2025:11 |
| By: | Bigoni, M.; Camera, G.; Gallo, E. |
| Abstract: | Globalization offers unparalleled opportunities to expand welfare through cooperation across large networks of unrelated individuals. Social exclusion – permanent or temporary – and monetary exchange are institutions that in theory can incentivize cooperation. In an experiment, we evaluate their relative performance and interaction in anonymous networks of different sizes. Permanent social exclusion (ostracism) reduces long-run economic potential by leading to sparse networks. Monetary exchange and temporary social exclusion perform similarly well in small networks. In large networks, however, monetary exchange is the only institution that promotes full cooperation by crowding out ostracism and keeping the network complete. An insight is that monetary systems outperform social exclusion mechanisms in promoting cooperation in globalized social and economic networks. |
| Keywords: | Cooperation, Experiment, Money, Network, Social Exclusion |
| JEL: | C92 E40 D85 C73 |
| Date: | 2025–07–23 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cam:camdae:2550 |
| By: | Alexsandros Cavgias; Cristian Navarro (-) |
| Abstract: | This paper provides the first causal test of the widely debated hypothesis that British colonial institutions promoted sexual prejudice—defined as negative attitudes toward sexual minorities—in postcolonial societies. We document five main findings. First, after accounting for differences in contemporary economic development, OLS estimates from a cross-country sample of former European colonies reveal that former British colonies exhibit higher sexual prejudice than those of other European powers. Second, Geo-RDD estimates show that former British colonies have significantly greater sexual prejudice than former Portuguese colonies in Southern and Eastern Africa, where local norms did not systematically condemn same-sex relations. Third, Geo-RDD estimates indicate that former British and French colonies display similar levels of sexual prejudice in Western Africa, where a higher share of the population adheres to religious norms condemning same-sex acts. Fourth, additional evidence from areas in South America and Southeast Asia not characterized by homophobic social norms before colonization reinforces the external validity of our findings from Southeastern Africa. Finally, mechanisms analysis suggests that the persistence of sodomy laws fully accounts for the negative association between British colonial origin and contemporary sexual prejudice across countries. Overall, our results indicate that British colonial origin notably increased sexual prejudice in societies with social norms different from the penal codes imposed by colonizers. |
| Keywords: | Sexual Prejudice, British Colonization, Colonial Institutions, Sodomy Laws |
| JEL: | J15 J16 O10 O43 Z13 |
| Date: | 2025–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rug:rugwps:25/1117 |
| By: | Sebastian Roché (PACTE - Pacte, Laboratoire de sciences sociales - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - UGA - Université Grenoble Alpes - IEPG - Sciences Po Grenoble-UGA - Institut d'études politiques de Grenoble - UGA - Université Grenoble Alpes); Simon Varaine (PACTE - Pacte, Laboratoire de sciences sociales - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - UGA - Université Grenoble Alpes - IEPG - Sciences Po Grenoble-UGA - Institut d'études politiques de Grenoble - UGA - Université Grenoble Alpes) |
| Abstract: | Can social and economic macro-social shocks significantly affect citizens' trust in the police? We explore the credibility of dual expectancy disconfirmation theory whereby the trust in the police is the result of the responsibility attributed to the government for a shock combined with the evaluation of police action as helpful vs. harmful during the following crisis. Based on European Social Survey (ESS) data, we compare countries under shock with the rest of the EU states (Greece: economic hardship; France: terrorism; Spain: elite conflict. We show that, after a shock, trust in the police evolves as a result of a combined (dual)assessment of the government and the police by the citizens. Firstly, when a government is clearly responsible for the shock, it takes the blame, which spills over to the police. Conversely, when a government is confronted by a shock outside its decision-making realm, no blame spills over to the police. Secondly, the positive evaluation of the police depends on whether their intervention corresponds to the protective role they have been assigned: they are evaluated positively when they tackle a threat, and negatively when they forcibly prevent citizens from exercising their political rights. Thirdly, differential effects are always observable: segments of society which are exposed to more harm from the police become more reluctant to trust the police. This paper presents a theoretical backing for those studies that have previously dealt with shocks but were mostly based on micro level theories of police-citizens interactions with only limited theoretical attempts to consider the macro-level context. |
| Date: | 2025–04–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-05120570 |
| By: | Matthew Collins; Eleonora Guarnieri; Helmut Rainer |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the causal impact of free primary education (FPE) on fertility decisions among parents in sub-Saharan Africa, focusing on the interplay between the policy, intra-household bargaining, and cultural norms. Using Demographic and Health Survey data and exploiting the staggered rollout of FPE across 17 countries, we find that FPE reduces fertility by 0.1 children per woman and improves child survival and school enrollment. Linking these data with ethnic-level cultural norms of male dominance, we find that these effects are concentrated among ethnic groups with low male dominance, while high male-dominance groups experience minimal or opposing effects. We further show that FPE strengthens women’s bargaining power in low male-dominance settings, as evidenced by increased contraceptive use, greater influence over reproductive decisions, and higher participation in household decision-making. These changes are accompanied by higher labor force participation, increased media engagement, a higher probability of divorce, and reduced tolerance for intimate partner violence. Such shifts are largely absent in high-male dominance cultures. These findings are consistent with a simple theoretical framework that integrates the canonical quantity–quality trade-off into a household bargaining model with limited commitment, where cultural norms are captured by the extent of women’s veto power over fertility decisions. Our results highlight the critical role of cultural norms in shaping the effects of policy interventions on fertility behavior and broader development outcomes. |
| Keywords: | fertility, gender norms, free primary education |
| JEL: | J13 I25 N37 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11994 |
| By: | Paul-Emile Bernard (University of Paris-Dauphine, PSL) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the role of political connections in shaping firm-level resource allocation in China. Using administrative data, I distinguish between national and local ties and estimate their effects on subsidies, capital costs, and tax liabilities. Politically connected managers secure systematically larger transfers and face more favorable financial conditions. National connections increase access to direct subsidies, while local ties reduce capital costs and effective tax rates. A difference-in-differences design reveals that nationally connected firms receive 38% higher annual subsidies over four years. Locally connected firms lower their capital costs by 2.5%. Political access substitutes for marketbased allocation. |
| Keywords: | Political Connection, Subsidy, Tax Avoidance, Misallocation |
| JEL: | D24 D72 L38 L52 H2 O25 |
| Date: | 2025–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dia:wpaper:dt202505 |
| By: | Daniel Diakité (CREATE - ULaval - Université Laval [Québec]); Lota Tamini (CREATE - ULaval - Université Laval [Québec]); Simon Cornée (CREM - Centre de recherche en économie et management - UNICAEN - Université de Caen Normandie - NU - Normandie Université - UR - Université de Rennes - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Sébastien Caillault (Institut Agro Rennes Angers - Institut Agro - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement, ESO - Espaces et Sociétés - UNICAEN - Université de Caen Normandie - NU - Normandie Université - UM - Le Mans Université - UA - Université d'Angers - UR2 - Université de Rennes 2 - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - Nantes Univ - IGARUN - Institut de Géographie et d'Aménagement Régional de l'Université de Nantes - Nantes Université - pôle Humanités - Nantes Univ - Nantes Université - Institut Agro Rennes Angers - Institut Agro - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement); Damien Rousselière (SMART - Structures et Marché Agricoles, Ressources et Territoires - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement - Institut Agro Rennes Angers - Institut Agro - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement, Institut Agro Rennes Angers - Institut Agro - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement) |
| Abstract: | Although cooperatives are major actors in the transformation of agricultural systems, very little attention has been paid to the conditions that facilitate or hinder their involvement in the sustainable transition. Drawing on theoretical and empirical approaches, we analyze the effect of social capital on the propensity and proportion of investment in environmental assets in the case of agricultural machinery cooperatives (CUMAs) in France. The number of producers within their CUMA is used as a proxy of the bonding social capital and the CUMA's relationships with external organizations as a proxy of the bridging social capital. Our results show a nonmonotonic relationship between the proxies of social capital and investment in environmental assets by CUMAs. However, the effect differs depending on the subdimension of social capital considered. Interestingly, our results show that the effect of social capital within CUMAs remains even when the cooperatives carry out investment renewals that involve less risk for members. |
| Keywords: | Environmental assets, Fractional model, Social capital |
| Date: | 2025–01–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04881204 |