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on Social Norms and Social Capital |
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Issue of 2026–03–30
twelve papers chosen by Fabio Sabatini, Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza” |
| By: | Luis Guirola (AQR-IREA, Universitat de Barcelona, Spain.); Gonzalo Rivero |
| Abstract: | We study how political polarization impacts trust in the government and independent institutions. We gather microdata from 27 countries over three decades and identify 142 government changes. For each of these events, we run a difference in differences design comparing left and right-wing supporters to identify the effect on trust caused by a particular party controlling the executive. The estimated effect ranges from 0 to 2.1 standard deviations, and is systematically larger when party polarization is stronger– this variable alone explains 72% of the variation. The effect propagates onto trust in the European Central Bank and other institutions outside government control. Examining the mechanism, we find evidence consistent with a) lack of knowledge about independence and b) that elections under high polarization are high-stakes events affecting multiple dimensions, including subjective wellbeing, and trust toward the political system as a whole. |
| Keywords: | Political Polarization; Trust; Institutions; Politics. JEL classification: D72; D14; D02. |
| Date: | 2025–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ira:wpaper:202511 |
| By: | Nicola Gennaioli; Frederik Schwerter; Guido Tabellini |
| Abstract: | In an online experiment with a representative US sample (N=12, 960) we show that increasing the salience of an economic or cultural conflict without providing any news boosts disagreement on a range of political issues by 8-35%. The data support two key predictions of the Bonomi et al. (2021) identity theory of political beliefs. First, polarization amplifies – through stereotypes – latent disagreement among the economic or cultural groups standing in salient conflict. Second, there is belief realignment away from no-longer salient groups, causing some people to move across the conservative-progressive divide. These results can illuminate real-world political conflicts and propaganda. |
| Keywords: | social identity, stereotypes, belief realignment |
| JEL: | D72 D83 D91 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12547 |
| By: | Lavy, Victor (University of Warwick, Hebrew University, and NBE); Shayo, Moses (Hebrew University of Jerusalem and King’s College London) |
| Abstract: | We study how teachers' rule violations in grading affect students' ethical behavior. Using administrative data from high-stakes exams, combining teacher-assigned internal scores with externally graded national exam scores, we track teacher grading violations and subsequent student cheating. We explore three potential mechanisms: imitation (learning that rules can be broken), positive reciprocity (responding favorably to favorable treatment), and negative reciprocity (retaliating against unfavorable treatment). Exploiting within-student variation in exposure to different teachers, we find students are significantly more likely to cheat when teachers break the rules to their detriment (systematically undergrading), consistent with both imitation and negative reciprocity. However, when teachers systematically overgrade, responses vary by community structure. In heterogeneous communities, overgrading increases student cheating, suggesting imitation dominates. In homogeneous communities, students respond by cheating less, consistent with positive reciprocity dominating. This pattern holds across multiple homogeneity measures, including surname concentration and residential clustering. Survey measures of mutual respect and support between students and teachers confirm this pattern. |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wrk:warwec:1604 |
| By: | Eiji Yamamura; Fumio Ohtake |
| Abstract: | This study investigates shifts in acceptable tax rate for reducing inequality during the COVID-19 pandemic using Japanese data. We find a transition from norm-based, unconditional support for redistribution to conditional altruism. Before the pandemic, support remained high and independent of institutional trust. The pandemic generated an overall decline in altruistic attitudes while increasing their dependence on trust in government, particularly among high-income individuals. This "widening gap" implies that in post-crisis societies, the social contract is no longer anchored in stable social norms but increasingly relies on institutional trust to sustain income redistribution from the rich to the poor. |
| Date: | 2026–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2603.06098 |
| By: | Eiji Yamamura; Fumio Ohtake |
| Abstract: | Using an individual-level panel dataset from Japan covering the period 2016-2024, we examined how the COVID-19 pandemic, as an unanticipated public crisis, affected preferences for income redistribution. Furthermore, we investigated how the association between redistribution preferences and trust in government changed before and after COVID-19. The major findings are as follows: (1) individuals in the high-income group are less likely to prefer redistribution after COVID-19 than before it; (2) the degree of decline in redistribution preference is lower when trust in government is higher; and (3) generalised trust and reciprocity did not influence the decline in preference. |
| Date: | 2026–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2603.06106 |
| By: | Patricia Agyapong |
| Abstract: | Do natural resources affect public trust in political leaders and institutions? In this study, I use a difference-in-differences approach to investigate this question, focusing on Ghana’s discovery of high-grade offshore oil in 2007. I find that individuals living close to the oil fields became less trusting of political leaders and institutions after the discovery. The findings suggest that the oil discovery’s impact on political trust varies depending on pre-existing social and economic condi¬tions such as educational status, employment status and the level of media exposure. Additionally, individuals located near the oil fields reported more negative views about Ghana’s democracy, corruption, government performance, and economic conditions. The results suggest a potential link between increased bribe payments in these locations and declining trust. |
| Keywords: | natural resources; political trust; governance; corruption; public attitudes; difference-in-differences; Ghana; Afrobarometer |
| JEL: | D72 H11 O17 Q33 C21 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csa:wpaper:2026-03 |
| By: | Eichengreen, Barry; Saka, Orkun; Aksoy, Cevat |
| Abstract: | Epidemic exposure in an individual’s “impressionable years” (ages 18 to 25) has a persistent negative effect on confidence in political institutions and leaders. This loss of trust is associated with epidemic-induced economic difficulties, such as lower income and unemployment later in life. It is observed for political institutions and leaders only and does not carry over to other institutions and individuals. A key exception is a strong negative effect on confidence in public health systems. This suggests that the distrust in political institutions and leaders is associated with the (in)effectiveness of a government’s healthcare-related response to epidemics. We show that the loss of political trust is largest for individuals who experienced epidemics under weak governments with low policymaking capacity, and confirm that weak governments in fact took longer to introduce policy interventions in response to COVID-19. We report evidence that the epidemic-induced loss of political trust discourages electoral participation in the long term. |
| Keywords: | epidemics; trust; political approval |
| JEL: | D72 F50 I19 |
| Date: | 2024–05–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:115235 |
| By: | Nandini Maroo; Kavita Vemuri |
| Abstract: | Social relationships are known to shape human behavior, yet when and how social ties influence strategic cognition remains unclear. We adopt a dual-measure approach that combines observed gameplay behavior with elicitation of partner-specific beliefs at each decision point, allowing us to examine how social ties shape both decisions and predictions across interaction structures. Dyads classified as having no ties, weak ties, or strong ties played three canonical economic games: the Dictator Game, Ultimatum Game, and Centipede Game, while also making predictions about their partner's actions. Using a mixed design that held partners constant across games while varying social distance between dyads, we examined how relational proximity affected the alignment between behavior and partner-specific beliefs. Across two norm-saturated games (Dictator and Ultimatum), neither offers nor belief calibration differed reliably by social distance. In contrast, in the sequential Centipede Game, where outcomes depend on anticipating a specific partner's future actions, strong-tie dyads both cooperated longer and expected later termination than no-tie dyads, with beliefs and behavior shifting in parallel. These results indicate that social ties become strategically relevant when the interaction structure makes partner-specific accountability cognitively necessary, but not when behavior is governed primarily by shared norms or institutional constraints. The findings provide a structural account of when relational knowledge enters strategic cognition and help reconcile mixed results in prior work on social distance in economic games. |
| Date: | 2026–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2603.15700 |
| By: | Marie Boltz; Monserrat Bustelo; Ana María Díaz; Agustina Suaya |
| Abstract: | We study whether pluralistic ignorance about societal and spousal support for maternal employment sustains gender gaps in women’s labour-market outcomes. Using a representative sample of 1, 732 cohabiting couples with young children in Bogotá, we document near-universal first-order support for working mothers but substantial underestimation of others’ support, especially that of fathers, and frequent misperceptions of the partner’s views. We then implement a randomised information intervention that delivers personalised feedback on prevailing local attitudes toward maternal employment. The intervention narrows key second-order belief gaps about community and spousal support, while leaving first-order attitudes essentially unchanged. Treated men are more likely than control men to nominate their wife rather than themselves for a career-building course. One to two months later, treated women report more intensive job search and treated men place greater weight on work–family balance. Effects are concentrated among women who are already active in the labour market, underscoring both the potential and the limits of norm-correcting information in a context with high support for women’s work but large misperceptions |
| Keywords: | Gender norms, Female Employment, Pluralistic ignorance, RCT. |
| JEL: | J16 J21 D91 C93 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ulp:sbbeta:2026-08 |
| By: | L. Flóra Drucker (Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf); Dániel Horn (Corvinus University Budapest; ELTE Centre for Economic and Regional Studies); Sára Khayouti (University of Zürich); Hubert János Kiss (ELTE Centre for Economic and Regional Studies; Corvinus University Budapest) |
| Abstract: | We replicate the seminal three-games design introduced by Cox (2004) to disentangle trust and reciprocity from other-regarding preferences in the classic trust game. This study marks the first attempt to replicate these findings using a non-university sample. Our experiment was conducted online via Prolific, with participants based in the United States. In the original study, Cox (2004) found that senders in a treatment where receivers could not send back any money sent less than in the classical trust game, suggesting that sender behavior reflects a combination of other-regarding preferences and trust. This finding replicates in our experiment. However, the second finding does not replicate: receivers who automatically received money from senders did not send back significantly less than those in the classical trust game, where senders actively made the sending decision. Consequently, unlike Cox (2004), we find no clear distinction between other-regarding preferences and reciprocity. |
| Keywords: | trust game; reciprocity; trust; other-regarding preferences; experimental economics; replication |
| JEL: | C91 C93 D64 D03 Z13 |
| Date: | 2026–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:has:discpr:2603 |
| By: | Allen IV, James; Gilligan, Daniel O.; Kurdi, Sikandra; Shokry, Nada; Yassa, Basma |
| Abstract: | We examine the nature and scope of gendered work norms in Egypt using new experimental evidence from a household survey. Societal norms around work, care responsibilities and the types of jobs women and men can hold can have a profound effect on gender differences in employment, earnings and life satisfaction. Indeed, while lack of childcare and secure transportation remain widely cited constraints to women’s employment in low-income settings, descriptive and experimental evidence also suggest that deeply rooted social norms about gender roles play a prominent role in driving the persistence of such barriers and in how households evaluate women’s work. Norms emphasizing men as primary breadwinners and women as primary caregivers shape both economic decisions and perceptions of behavior in ways that may limit women’s labor force participation even when opportunities exist. We implement three survey-based experiments among economically disadvantaged households to elucidate these norms and measure their salience. A wage‐comparison choice experiment shows that households strongly prefer that men—not women—take on additional paid work, even when this preference entails substantial forgone income for the household. When offered identical wages for equal hours of work, only 12.4 percent of respondents select the wife to take it as a first part-time job versus the husband taking it as a second part-time job. Even when her wage is double that of her husband, a clear majority still prefer that the husband works instead. These results indicate a large implicit cost that households place on women working outside the household. Two randomized vignette experiments further demonstrate that identical actions are interpreted differently depending on whether they are performed by men or women. Men who take on a second job to support their financially struggling household are widely viewed as more competent and more moral, whereas perceptions of women making the same choice are far more divided. Perceptions of workplace effort are broadly similar across genders, with small differences appearing only in perceptions of morality. Together, these findings emphasize the strength of gendered work norms in Egypt and reveal nuance in how they shape behavior. The findings also underscore the relevance of gender norms for designing programs affecting household work decisions and testing new approaches to promote women’s economic inclusion. |
| Keywords: | gender norms; women; social structure; labour; Egypt; Africa; Northern Africa; Middle East |
| Date: | 2025–12–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:prnote:178587 |
| By: | Boese-Schlosser, Vanessa A.; Meißner, Daniel; Ziblatt, Daniel |
| Abstract: | This paper proposes a conceptual framework for assessing individual democratic commitment and demonstrates its usefulness in the German context. Building on and bridging existing strands of research (e.g. on support for democracy, conceptualizations of democracy, evaluations of democracy), the framework distinguishes between citizens' personal definitions of democracy and three analytically distinct but interconnected layers of democratic attachment: normative importance, evaluations of democratic performance, and affective engagement, captured through concern about democracy's future. Together, these elements clarify how citizens relate to democracy as they understand it. Drawing on a nationally representative survey conducted in December 2023, we provide descriptive evidence on each layer and their distribution across social and political groups in Germany. While democratic importance is very high overall, evaluations of democratic performance are more moderate and concern about democracy's future is widespread, particularly among supporters of the AfD and residents of eastern Germany. This configuration underscores the importance of distinguishing between the strength of democratic attachment and the substantive content individuals associate with democracy. Without this distinction, high concern and strong support could be misinterpreted as indicators of democratic commitment, even when citizens' personal definitions of democracy stand in tension with democratic principles. Our findings thus also highlight the importance of the affective layer as a key mobilization potential. |
| Keywords: | democratic commitment, democratic attachment, AfD, Germany |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:wzbwrt:338884 |