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on Social Norms and Social Capital |
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Issue of 2026–07–13
seventeen papers chosen by Fabio Sabatini, Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza” |
| By: | Daniele, Gianmarco; Martinangeli, Andrea; Passarelli, Francesco; Sas, Willem; Windsteiger, Lisa |
| Abstract: | Why do advanced democracies struggle to maintain high levels of trust? We present a theory grounded in everyday interaction among individuals. Governments rely on regulation to foster cooperation and mitigate externalities. Individuals, however, hold heterogeneous perceptions of the externality problem. As a result, regulation generates distrust toward the government, but for different reasons. Those who are more concerned about the externality blame the government for adopting rules they view as too lenient. Those who are less concerned object to being required to comply with rules they perceive as unnecessary. Regulation also shapes interpersonal trust. Once in place, rules define standards of civic behavior and become reference points for evaluating others’ actions. Interpersonal trust erodes when non-compliance is observed. The theory predicts asymmetric patterns of trust polarization, with “disobedient†groups primarily distrusting political institutions and “civic†groups mostly distrusting non-compliant individuals. It also predicts a joint decline in interpersonal and institutional trust as regulation tightens or beliefs become more dispersed. Evidence from a large survey experiment conducted in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic supports these predictions. |
| Keywords: | Regulation; Externality; Covid-19 |
| JEL: | D70 D72 H3 O52 |
| Date: | 2026–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:21462 |
| By: | Fetzer, Thiemo (University of Warwick); Hensel, Lukas (University of Peking); Roth, Christoper (University of Cologne); Hannah Zillessen (KU Leuven) |
| Abstract: | Democracies can sustain disagreement over outcomes, but they are harder to sustain when citizens also perceive the governing norms of political contestation as settled along partisan lines. We study this problem in the context of Brexit and experimentally vary truthful information about how much Leave and Remain supporters agree with, and how uncertain they are about, the appropriateness of a second referendum. We find that uncertainty matters more than agreement: respondents become more willing to donate to and tweet for campaigns on either side of the referendum question when they learn that others, especially members of their own political camp, are more uncertain about the norm. The pattern is strongest for support for the norm position that is less popular within one’s own political camp, while private beliefs about the norm and about Brexit itself barely move. These findings are more consistent with reduced conformity pressure and higher perceived returns to political expression than with private-belief updating, and they suggest that information about uncertainty can generate a meaningful form of depolarization in democratic engagement even when underlying outcome preferences remain largely unchanged |
| Keywords: | Uncertainty, Norms, Social Image, Political Participation JEL codes: D81, D83 P11 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wrk:warwec:1616 |
| By: | Gertsberg, Marina; Pagel, Michaela; Volkova, Ekaterina |
| Abstract: | The Epstein files, released between September 2025 and January 2026, offer an unprecedented window into the social and professional network of a convicted sex offender whose ties extended deep into corporate America. We construct a comprehensive sample of all S&P 500 CEOs and board members serving between 2006 and 2026 — 52, 266 unique individuals — and search the 1, 293, 753 text-bearing documents for evidence of their contact with Jeffrey Epstein. Using large language model (LLM) classification of 117, 394 matched correspondences, we identify 67, 637 that indicate direct contact with 1, 179 S&P 500 CEOs or directors. We then document three main findings. First, firms whose CEOs or board members appeared in Epstein-related news coverage experienced significantly negative cumulative abnormal returns of up to -3.7% over a three-day window following the January 30, 2026 DOJ release. Second, adding Epstein-mediated ties to the firm network increases overall density and reduces average path lengths significantly, meaning that Epstein effectively wired corporate America into a denser, more tightly interconnected governance network than would have existed otherwise. Third, we show that Epstein's network transmitted norm contagion through shared board connections. Firms with more Epstein-connected CEOs or directors exhibit significantly worse ESG outcomes: each additional connection is associated with approximately 2.3 more annual governance incidents and 4.0 more total incidents. |
| Keywords: | Connections; Networks |
| JEL: | G30 G34 G38 J16 |
| Date: | 2026–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:21352 |
| By: | Giuliano, Paola |
| Abstract: | This chapter reviews the growing literature on the origin, persistence and evolution of cultural norms. I begin by examining the deep historical forces that shape the formation of cultural norms, with particular attention to the role of geography, pre-industrial societal characteristics, political institutions, and historical shocks. I then analyze the mechanisms through which cultural norms persist and evolve, emphasizing the roles of vertical, horizontal, and oblique transmission. Next, I examine the complex interaction between culture and institutions, and discuss the conditions under which cultural norms change. Several conclusions emerge. Cultural norms tend to persist over remarkably long periods, though the speed of change varies significantly across traits. Norms rooted in deep historical values are the most resistant to change, while attitudes related to pro-sociality and redistribution adapt more quickly. Understanding the origins and persistence of cultural norms has important implications for policy: policies that fail to account for local cultural context risk being ineffective or generating unintended consequences, while well-designed interventions can successfully shift cultural norms. Finally, I discuss the growing evidence on cultural mismatches — situations where norms that were adaptive in historical environments become maladaptive in new contexts — and outline directions for future research. |
| Keywords: | Cultural norms; Cultural evolution; Historical persistence |
| JEL: | Z1 P0 |
| Date: | 2026–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:21401 |
| By: | Goodhart, Charles; Vu, Ly Hoang |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates how media usage and individual characteristics shape trust in national institutions across diverse political and informational environments. Drawing on a harmonized dataset that combines the WVS/EVS Trend 1981–2022 with population data from the World Bank, we analyze 423, 346 individual observations from 97 countries. We examine trust in five national institutions (press, government, parliament, law courts, and commercial banks) and conduct region-specific analyses covering 8 regions: Western Europe and other Advanced Economies, Eastern Europe (within and outside the Russian sphere), Asia (within and outside the China sphere), Latin America, and Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and the MENA. The results reveal robust cross-regional patterns: traditional media use is consistently associated with higher trust in national institutions, whereas social media use is generally linked to lower trust, particularly in political institutions. We review and discuss the sharply differing regional effects of religious adherence and the length of the current government ruling party time in office. Subjective well-being, perceived security, and life satisfaction emerge as the most stable predictors of trust across regions and institutions. These findings highlight the joint roles of information environments and lived experience in shaping institutional trust and carry important implications for governance and public communication strategies. |
| Keywords: | Religiosity |
| JEL: | D10 D91 H11 O50 P47 P52 Z12 |
| Date: | 2026–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:21295 |
| By: | Eliaz, Kfir; Spiegler, Ran |
| Abstract: | We propose a model of whataboutism — a rhetorical strategy that deflects criticism by invoking analogous, yet internally uncriticized, misconduct on the critic's side — and study its implications for social norms governing offensive speech. In an infinite-horizon psychological game with two rival camps, agents weigh the intrinsic benefit of offensive speech against the risk of effective condemnation. External criticism can be rendered ineffective via an equilibrium-based whataboutism rebuttal. We characterize the unique dynamically stable Psychological Subgame Perfect Equilibrium and show that the availability of whataboutism exacerbates offensive speech, such that civility norms can break down entirely, especially in polarized societies. |
| JEL: | D72 |
| Date: | 2026–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:21395 |
| By: | Matthias Waldauf; Anna Dreber; Jürgen Huber; Michael Kirchler |
| Abstract: | In recent years, open science and metascience have made advances by reducing publication bias, applying largeteam science, and addressing reproducibility. Although both approaches are increasingly being incorporated into many scientific fields, it is unclear to what extent they are appreciated by the public. We evaluate the public’s perception of scientific findings by exposing more than 7, 500 participants from seven countries that vary in general trust in science. In this randomized experiment, participants are exposed to versions of a similar scientific result pointing toward the same conclusion: participants read about a small classical single-team study, a large sample size study, or a many-labs (many-teams) study with 21 research teams working independently. We find that in aggregate, the public considers both the many-labs and the large-sample study more credible, generalizable and relevant for society than the single-team study. Importantly, they see the involvement of many research teams and having many study participants as key advantages. Moreover, we find no statistically significant differences in perceptions of the many-labs study and the large-sample study. We also find similar results within some countries and null results within other countries, emphasizing the importance of studying these questions in different contexts. These findings underscore the importance of novel metascience and large-sample studies to improve the credibility of scientific research in the general population. It also underscores the increasing importance of communicating the benefits and findings of metascience and large-sample projects to the public. |
| Keywords: | Metascience, Open Science, Science Credibility, Science Trust, General Population |
| Date: | 2026–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:inn:wpaper:2026-04 |
| By: | Nakakuni, Kanato; Tertilt, Michèle; Yum, Minchul |
| Abstract: | This chapter examines how social norms shape fertility behavior. We first present cross-country evidence linking fertility to norms regarding family size, childcare, gender roles, parenting, and sexual behavior. We also review empirical studies showing substantial fertility spillovers within families, workplaces, and social networks. To interpret these patterns, we present a series of models to clarify the mechanisms through which norms and fertility decisions interact. We organize the theories by type of norm: norms about ideal family size, norms governing the use of market childcare, gender norms within the household, parenting norms related to educational investment and social comparison, and norms surrounding birth control. We discuss how changes in social norms over time may have contributed to fertility decline. Finally, we highlight promising directions for future research. |
| Keywords: | Fertility; Externality |
| JEL: | D1 D62 I28 J13 N3 |
| Date: | 2026–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:21342 |
| By: | Abboud, Ali; Bazzi, Samuel; Canaan, Serena; Deeb, Antoine; Mouganie, Pierre |
| Abstract: | This paper examines how authority figures in higher education shape gender norms over the long run. We exploit the random assignment of first-year students to faculty advisors at an elite university in the Middle East and combine administrative records with an alumni survey measuring gender attitudes up to 24 years later. Women assigned to female advisors adopt more egalitarian views about politics and work, while men become more conservative. These effects are strongest among religious students and in male-dominated STEM fields, where female authority is especially counter-stereotypical. The effects may persist through reinforcement, as women assigned to female advisors later sort toward female instructors and more gender-themed courses. Our results do not appear to be driven by generic exposure to successful women. Instead, they point to a distinct role for authority in transmitting gender norms: randomized exposure to high-achieving female peers has little effect, while the largest impacts come from senior and high-value-added female advisors. A simple framework combining belief updating and identity-based status threat helps explain these patterns of female empowerment and male backlash. More broadly, our findings reveal a progress paradox whereby gains in female representation in elite authority expand opportunities for women while intensifying backlash among men, thereby deepening gender polarization. |
| Keywords: | Polarization; Backlash; Religion |
| JEL: | I23 J16 J24 P00 Z12 Z13 |
| Date: | 2026–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:21449 |
| By: | Chabé-Ferret, Bastien; Iftikhar, Zainab; Park, JungJae |
| Abstract: | This paper quantifies the contributions of social norms and economic incentives to the 350-hour annual gap in maternal labor supply between East and West Germany. Using a collective model of family formation and labor supply estimated on GSOEP data from 2000–2017, we find that the working-mother stigma accounts for 73 percent of the gap. Economic factors partially offset the norm: higher Western wages raise the opportunity cost of staying home, so equalizing wages in West to the levels in East would nearly double the gap. We show that standard policy reforms may actually widen the regional disparity, and that their effectiveness is conditional on the norm being present: once removed, the same policies have negligible effects. |
| JEL: | J01 J08 J12 J13 J22 |
| Date: | 2026–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:21439 |
| By: | Alejandra Villegas (Department of Economics, Universidad Iberoamericana Ciudad de Mexico) |
| Abstract: | This article examines how social norms are enforced through evaluative behavior in the domain of unpaid domestic labor. I implement an online experiment combining an incentivized coordination task to elicit perceived community norms with a two-round dictator-type allocation task. Participants first allocate lottery tickets to a virtual recipient identified only by sex; they then allocate tickets to the same recipient after observing a domestic-work allocation that either conforms to, exceeds, or falls below the elicited reference norm. The main outcome is the within-evaluator change in transfers, which captures whether norm-relevant information induces evaluative rewards or sanctions. The results show that responses to norm deviation are relational and asymmetric. Evaluative transfers vary with the gender of the recipient, the direction of the deviation from the reference norm, and the evaluator's own normative position. In particular, allocations that reduce women's expected share of domestic work, and therefore move toward a more egalitarian division of labor, tend to elicit more negative responses when associated with male rather than female recipients, especially among evaluators with more traditional views about domestic labor. By experimentally varying norm compliance and linking it to allocation behavior, the paper provides behavioral evidence on how informal enforcement mechanisms may sustain gendered divisions of unpaid work even when egalitarian arrangements are available. |
| JEL: | J16 C91 D91 Z13 J22 D64 |
| Date: | 2026–06–15 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:smx:wpaper:2026005 |
| By: | Gorodnichenko, Yuriy; Sologoub, Ilona; Fedyk, Yuriy |
| Abstract: | Using a representative sample of more than 7, 000 Ukrainians, we study how information treatments affect corruption perceptions and prosocial behavior. We document a large gap between perceived and experienced corruption: while most respondents view corruption as widespread and a major national problem, far fewer report direct exposure. Through a randomized controlled trial, we find that informing citizens about successful prosecutions raises perceived government willingness to fight corruption but does not reduce overall corruption perceptions. Communicating the scale of corruption alone generates no significant effects. Information treatments have little effect on hypothetical or actual donations and volunteering, suggesting a limited pass-through from changed beliefs to prosocial action. Thus, while information interventions can strengthen institutional credibility, they alone are not enough to tangibly improve civic engagement or reduce perceptions of corruption. |
| Keywords: | Corruption; beliefs; Randomized controlled trial (rct) |
| JEL: | D73 O17 O52 P2 |
| Date: | 2026–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:21494 |
| By: | Margaris, Panos; Wallenius, Johanna |
| Abstract: | We develop a life cycle model that features food consumption, exercise, and deviation from reference BMI, which represents local social norms, to rationalize spatial concentration and the educational gradient in body mass in the US. BMI is determined by caloric balance and affects health and medical spending, the probability of survival, and the level of utility. We find that occupational strenuousness, food prices, medical expenditures, and labor income explain only a modest share of BMI differences across regions and education groups. Preference differences matter, but they account for the patterns only when amplified by social norms. To demonstrate the policy relevance of the social norm, we introduce a GLP-1 treatment policy targeting individuals with the highest food preferences. We find substantial direct effects on average BMI, with reductions of up to more than 6 pounds. Importantly, we document meaningful spillover effects arising from endogenous adjustment of reference BMI that further amplify these effects. The BMI reductions translate into substantial life expectancy gains for both treated individuals and untreated individuals through spillover effects. |
| Keywords: | Obesity |
| JEL: | I12 I14 D15 E21 |
| Date: | 2026–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:21370 |
| By: | Nybom, Martin; Rodríguez Mora, José V; Salvanes, Kjell G |
| Abstract: | This paper reviews recent advances on the drivers of intergenerational persistence in education and income, with a focus on causal mechanisms shaping social mobility across OECD countries. While the descriptive literature is vast, documenting substantial correlations between parents' and children's outcomes, recent research increasingly emphasizes the underlying factors driving these patterns. We begin with a brief illustration of global variation in intergenerational mobility using harmonized cross-country data, before turning to the literature on mechanisms. We outline a general theoretical framework, which organizes the discussion around three domains: pre-market factors (e.g., early childhood investment, parenting, education systems), labor market dynamics (e.g., sorting, networks, firm heterogeneity), and post-market institutions. We review topics such as the timing and nature of parental investments, parenting styles, credit constraints, neighborhood effects, and the role of social networks in school and on the labor market. We highlight how new data and empirical designs have broadened our understanding of the drivers of intergenerational inequality and ultimately which interventions that have the potential to mitigate it. |
| Keywords: | Neighborhoods; Labor market |
| JEL: | J62 J13 D85 |
| Date: | 2026–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:21308 |
| By: | Della Lena, Sebastiano; Jansen, Yannick; Zenou, Yves |
| Abstract: | We study how the degree of zero-sumness in a social environment shapes cooperation and network formation. When individual gains partly come at others’ expense, agents face a trade-off between contributing to a public good and extracting rents from their network position. We model this as a public good game on a directed, weighted network with a parameter capturing the intensity of zero-sum conflict. Our Zero-Sum Theorem shows that greater zero-sumness increases contributions while reducing social connectedness: agents sever links to limit exposure to extraction and increase self-provision to compensate for the diminished free-riding opportunities associated with sparser networks. The unique Nash equilibrium has contributions equal to weighted sign-alternating Bonacich centralities, reflecting how network position shapes behavior through alternating spillovers while incorporating extraction incentives. With endogenous links, equilibrium total connectivity is uniform across homogeneous agents, and heterogeneity in extraction incentives generates an inverse relationship between rent-extraction benefits and network centrality. |
| Keywords: | Public goods; Rent extraction; Network formation; Network centrality; Social connectedness |
| JEL: | C72 D62 D85 H41 |
| Date: | 2026–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:21459 |
| By: | Flavio Cunha; Qinyou Hu; Yiming Xia; Naibao Zhao |
| Abstract: | We evaluate a parent-directed empathy development program for middle school students in China using a randomized trial with 2, 246 students. The four-month mobile app intervention produced short-run gains in empathy and reduced bullying but no immediate academic effects. Over the longer term, treatment students were 3.2 percentage points more likely to enter elite high schools and 2.5 percentage points less likely to miss the entrance exam. We trace these gains to improved self-beliefs and a restructuring of classroom friendship networks that reduced academic homophily, revealing a social channel of cross-productivity: non-cognitive investments can reshape peer relationships to improve academic outcomes. |
| JEL: | C93 I21 J24 |
| Date: | 2026–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:35370 |
| By: | Li, Wenqi (School of Economics and Business Administration, Chongqing University); Nguyen, Bao.H. (Tasmanian School of Business & Economics, University of Tasmania) |
| Abstract: | Using a unique dataset on political relations between China and its key trading partners and a nonlinear model, we explore how improvements in bilateral political relationships influence trade outcomes under varying economic states. Our findings reveal that while stronger political ties (“better friends†) generally improve trade flows, this effect is not universal. During periods of weak domestic demand, bet- ter political relations do not significantly enhance trade performance. The results also exhibit heterogeneity across countries, indicating that the impact of political relations on trade flows differs depending on the specific economic condition and political context. |
| Keywords: | China, political relations, non-linear models, trade flows |
| JEL: | F14 F50 C32 E32 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tas:wpaper:65547630 |