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on Social Norms and Social Capital |
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Issue of 2025–09–08
ten papers chosen by Fabio Sabatini, Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza” |
| By: | Carlsson, Fredrik (Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University); Kataria, Mitesh (Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University); Lampi, Elina (Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University) |
| Abstract: | We investigate how politicization and the financial cost of climate policies influence public trust in scientific information about climate change. We find that citizens' trust in science-based information on climate is influenced by its political context. When climate policy is associated with a political affiliation, trust in the scientific information decreases, independent of the political party supporting the policy. However, there is no effect on policy support on political endorsement. Varying the financial cost of the policy to induce cognitive dissonance had no significant effect on trust in the scientific information; instead, as expected, higher cost substantially reduced policy support. |
| Keywords: | Experiment; climate change; scientific information; political parties; motivated beliefs |
| JEL: | D91 Q54 Q58 |
| Date: | 2025–08–26 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:gunwpe:0856 |
| By: | Adamecz, Anna (University College London); Kiss, Hubert János (Corvinus University of Budapest) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates whether adolescents’ core self-evaluation (CSE), a broad personality construct capturing individuals’ appraisal of their self-worth and capabilities, predicts interpersonal trust decades later. Using nationally representative longitudinal data from the BCS70, we construct CSE measures from self-esteem, locus of control, and emotional stability at age 16 and examine their relationship with trust reported at ages 34, 42, 46, and 50. We find that higher adolescent CSE is positively associated with greater trust in others later in life. The estimated associations are comparable in magnitude to those between trust and cognitive ability. They are stable over time and are not explained by selection to the sample, educational attainment, labor market success, or family formation. Importantly, we find that the relative importance of CSE components varies by adolescent mental health: locus of control is more predictive among individuals with better mental health, while emotional stability plays a stronger role among those with elevated depressive symptoms. These findings underscore the long-term social relevance of core self-evaluation and highlight its importance as a psychological antecedent of trust. |
| Keywords: | 1970 British Cohort Study, longitudinal analysis, personality traits, core self-evaluation, interpersonal trust, non-cognitive skills |
| JEL: | D01 D91 J19 |
| Date: | 2025–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18086 |
| By: | Björn Brey; Joanne Haddad; Lamis Kattan |
| Abstract: | State-led repression of minority identities is a well-documented phenomenon, yet its implications for national identity remain understudied. We examine how the Soviet state-induced famine (1932–33) shapes contemporary Ukrainian national identity through vertical (familial) and horizontal (community/state) transmission. Using newly geocoded individual-level data, we find that individuals from high-famine-exposure areas are more likely to identify as Ukrainian. We document that under Soviet rule, family networks preserved identity, while church closures weakened community transmission. After independence, state-led remembrance efforts, revitalized horizontal transmission. Our findings show how repression and remembrance shape identity persistence and reflect the famine’s lasting influence on Ukrainian-Russian relations. |
| Keywords: | political repression, national identity, intergenerational transmission, historical memory, trade, conflict |
| JEL: | D74 N44 P20 P35 Z13 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12080 |
| By: | Yuchen Guo; Matthew O. Jackson; Ruixue Jia |
| Abstract: | Do social networks and peer influence shape major life decisions in highly polarized settings? We explore this question by examining how peers influenced the allegiances of West Point cadets during the American Civil War. Leveraging quasi-random variations in the proportion of cadets from Free States, we analyze how these differences affected decisions about which army to join. We find that a higher proportion of classmates from Free States significantly increased the likelihood that cadets from Slave States joined the Union Army, while almost all cadets from Free States joined the Union Army (if they decided to join the war). We further examine how cadets' decisions affected their military rank and career outcomes. Our findings highlight that peers still influence choices even when they are life-altering and occur during periods of extreme polarization. |
| Date: | 2025–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2507.09419 |
| By: | Georgy Lukyanov; Emin Ablyatifov |
| Abstract: | This short note studies optimal taxation when the use of tax revenue for public consumption is uncertain. We consider a one-period general-equilibrium economy with a representative household and a competitive firm. The government may be honest, in which case revenue is converted one-for-one into public consumption, or opportunistic, in which case nothing is delivered. We treat trust as the prior probability that the government is honest and ask how it shapes both the overall scale of taxation and the choice between a labor tax and a broad commodity (output) tax. Three results emerge. First, there is a trust threshold below which any positive tax lowers welfare. Second, above that threshold there is an equivalence frontier: a continuum of tax mixes that implement the same allocation and welfare. Third, small instrument-specific administrative or salience costs uniquely select the revenue instrument, typically favoring the cheaper broad base. An isoelastic specialization yields closed-form expressions that make the threshold, optimal rates, delivered public consumption, and welfare transparent. The framework offers a compact policy map: build credibility before raising rates, keep the base broad, and let measured trust determine the scale. |
| Date: | 2025–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2509.03085 |
| By: | Beknazar-Yuzbashev, George; Jiménez Durán, Rafael; McCrosky, Jesse; Stalinski, Mateusz |
| Abstract: | Most social media users have encountered harassment online, but there is scarce evidence of how this type of toxic content impacts engagement. In a pre-registered browser extension field experiment, we randomly hid toxic content for six weeks on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Lowering exposure to toxicity reduced advertising impressions, time spent, and other measures of engagement, and reduced the toxicity of user-generated content. A survey experiment provides evidence that toxicity triggers curiosity and that engagement and welfare are not necessarily aligned. Taken together, our results suggest that platforms face a trade-off between curbing toxicity and increasing engagement |
| Keywords: | toxic content, moderation, social media, user engagement, browser experiment |
| JEL: | C93 D12 D83 D90 I31 L82 L86 M37 Z13 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:cbscwp:324647 |
| By: | Despina Gavresi; Anastasia Litina |
| Abstract: | In an era marked by repeated crises and the growing traction of populist movements, understanding the deep-rooted factors shaping EU cohesion has become increasingly urgent. This paper investigates how lifetime exposure to economic recessions influences individual attitudes toward the European Union (EU). Resorting to rich micro-data from the European Social Survey (ESS) and the Eurobarometer, we construct a detailed measure of economic hardship experienced during lifetime, capturing not just isolated downturns but the accumulated burden of multiple recessions over time. Importantly, we distinguish between various types of shocks-including output contractions, unemployment surges, consumption drops, participation in IMF adjustment programs, and the asymmetry or symmetry of crises across EU member states. We show that individuals with greater lifetime exposure to these economic shocks are more likely to distrust EU institutions, oppose further integration, vote for Eurosceptic parties, and support exiting the EU. These patterns are especially pronounced for asymmetric shocks, which disproportionately affect specific regions or countries, in contrast to symmetric shocks, which appear to foster a sense of shared fate and solidarity. A series of robustness tests-including placebo checks, heterogeneity analyses, diverse shock types and designs exploiting EU institutional structure -confirms the persistent impact of economic trauma on EU attitudes, underscoring the need to address historical recessions to safeguard cohesion and democratic legitimacy in the context of the EU. |
| Keywords: | recessions, european integration, EU cohesion, trust, EU institutions, euroscepticism |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12082 |
| By: | Ackland, James; Basiri, Ana |
| Abstract: | Democratic government relies on a great deal of voluntary participation from the population. This participation is not guaranteed, and when citizens are absent from the data collecting processes of the state, a missing data problem occurs. The co-occurrence of the Scottish local elections and the Scottish Census in 2022 provides an unusual opportunity to test hypotheses about common and context-specific drivers of civic non-participation. Using a geospatial approach, we show that ward-level census nonresponse is highly correlated with electoral abstention despite abstention being about five times more common than initial census nonresponse. Statistical modelling demonstrates strong common roles for deprivation and English-language speaking in driving the participation rates of a ward. Meanwhile relatively specific effects are shown for cohabitation in driving census response, and the proportion of young people in driving voting behaviour. We conclude that the similarity between these nonresponse processes represents an opportunity for improving practice in increasing response rates. For example, census “hard to count” indices can incorporate data from elections as “interim” predictions for low-response areas, and framing voting as a household duty, rather than an individual one, may improve turnout. |
| Date: | 2025–09–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:x9rj4_v1 |
| By: | Romain Ferrali (AMSE - Aix-Marseille Sciences Economiques - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - AMU - Aix Marseille Université - ECM - École Centrale de Marseille - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | Honest and dishonest behaviors may both diffuse among the members of an organization. Knowing which of the two spreads faster is important because it impacts the extent to which managers will need to resort to other, potentially more costly solutions to curb dishonest behavior. Assessing empirically which of honest behavior or dishonest behavior spreads faster is challenging because this requires field measurements of social relationships and dishonest behavior of individual members, which poses both measurement and inference problems. We examine an original fine-grained data set from a large company that allows for identifying agents likely to be dishonest and interactions among employees while offering a natural experiment that circumvents the inference problems associated with identifying peer-to-peer diffusion. We find (1) that dishonest behavior diffuses, whereas honest behavior does not; (2) that diffusion likely operates through spreading information about opportunities for collusion; and (3) that policies that screen on dishonesty at hiring may be efficient to curb dishonest behavior in environments with high turnover. This paper was accepted by Lamar Pierce, organizations. Funding: R. Ferrali acknowledges support from the Mamdouha S. Bobst Center for Peace and Justice [Grant 2016-12-Bobst], the French National Research Agency [Grant ANR-17-EURE-0020], and Aix-Marseille University—A*MIDEX [Excellence Initiative]. Supplemental Material: The online appendix and data files are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2023.01981 . |
| Abstract: | networks-graphsorganizational designdishonestynatural experiment |
| Keywords: | Natural experiment, Dishonesty, Organization Behavior, Network analysis |
| Date: | 2025–07–16 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05214954 |
| By: | Rusch, Hannes (RS: GSBE UM-BIC, Microeconomics & Public Economics, RS: GSBE other - not theme-related research) |
| Abstract: | Humans are a group-living species. Our evolutionary past could thus have shaped the ways in which we think and behave in group contexts. One such candidate feature of human social cognition and behavior is ingroup favoritism. Indeed, recent work revealed that at least some people are ingroup favoring and ‘strongly groupy’. Such individuals readily discriminate negatively against outgroup members across all group contexts they are put into, even these contexts are minimal and even if discriminating does not entail any benefits. However, so far, it has not been tested whether ingroup favoring behavior in general or ’groupy’ social preferences in particular are stable within persons over longer periods of time. Here, we present the results of a longitudinal lab-in-the-field study of ingroup favoritism and ’groupiness’ over one year. We find that neither ingroup favoritism nor ‘groupiness’ are particularly time-stable. Thus, our findings are hard to reconcile with notions of ingroup favoritism or ‘groupiness’ as individual traits. Instead, our observations underscore that group-based discrimination is malleable—for better or for worse. Our results reemphasize the need to understand which situational factors trigger ‘groupy’ behavior and how these interact with individual characteristics. |
| JEL: | C90 D01 D80 D90 J15 |
| Date: | 2025–09–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:umagsb:2025006 |