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on Social Norms and Social Capital |
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Issue of 2026–09–14
seven papers chosen by Fabio Sabatini, Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza” |
| By: | Ying Bai; Ruixue Jia |
| Abstract: | Institutions that claim to reward merit often also serve as engines that drive the formation of important social networks. We examine this dual role in China’s Imperial Examination, one of history’s longest-lived meritocratic systems. We draw on exam performance data for 24, 269 individuals across 112 national examinations in the Qing dynasty (1644–1905) and trace who among them rose to become top officials. Strong exam performance increased the likelihood of attaining high office, but advancement also depended on individuals’ ties to powerful examiners. Because performance and ties to powerful examiners were strongly complementary, individuals’ success appeared to rest on merit even as social networks played a role. Following the major political transformations of the 1840s, the importance of examiner ties persisted, although the influential examiners themselves changed. These findings help explain why such systems retain legitimacy even when networks matter greatly. |
| JEL: | D73 D85 N45 Z13 |
| Date: | 2026–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:35556 |
| By: | Leonardo Bursztyn (University of Chicago and NBER); Angela Duckworth (University of Pennsylvania); Rafael Jiménez-Durán (Bocconi University, IGIER, CEPR, CESifo, and Stigler Center); Aaron Leonard (University of Chicago); Filip Milojević (University of Chicago); Christopher Roth (University of Cologne, MPI for Behavioral Economics, and CEPR); Cass R. Sunstein (Harvard Law School) |
| Abstract: | In December 2025, Australia became the first country to ban youth under 16 years old from holding accounts on major social media platforms, a policy now under consideration in more than a dozen countries and in numerous states. Because social media use is inherently social, the effectiveness of a ban that is easy to circumvent may depend on whether compliance reaches a tipping point: a share of compliant peers high enough to make it optimal for individuals to comply themselves. We surveyed 746 Australian teenagers four months after the ban took effect and find that only about one in four 14–15-year-olds comply. The social environment around use has barely moved: most banned teens believe that their peers are still using banned platforms and cite social reasons for continuing use. Sustaining high compliance requires two ingredients: the share of compliers must be high enough and those who comply must find it preferable to continue complying. The current ban achieves neither. Teenagers report that they require roughly two-thirds of peers to stop using social media to stop themselves, far above the share currently complying. They also perceive compliers as less popular than non-compliers, so the more influential teens disproportionately stay on the platforms. Together, these patterns suggest that compliance is more likely to diminish than to rise. Sustaining higher compliance will likely require pairing the ban with instruments that act on social norms and individual incentives directly. Length: 31 pages |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bfi:wpaper:2026-57 |
| By: | Fan, Junwei (University of Glasgow); Montoya-Blandon, Santiago (University of Glasgow); Proto, Eugenio (University of Glasgow) |
| Abstract: | We examine how social comparison within endogenously formed peer networks affects different measures of young adult mental health. Using over 2 million smartphone-based communication records from the NetHealth Study, we construct objective social networks among university students and estimate a structural model in which individuals choose their peers and mental health depends on the income of chosen peers. When networks are treated as exogenous, higher average peer income predicts better mental health; once network formation is modelled endogenously, the relationship reverses: exposure to higher-income peers significantly worsens depressive symptoms. Income gaps harm mental health in both directions, consistent with inequality aversion rather than relative deprivation. The reversal survives extending binary links to message-weighted networks, and counterfactual exercises show that policies reducing the volume of messages exchanged with peers improve mental health, increasingly so with the size of the reduction, though the effect of targeted reductions depends on which ties are attenuated. Ignoring endogenous peer selection can thus yield qualitatively misleading conclusions about peer effects on mental health. |
| Keywords: | social networks, relative status, mental health, network formation |
| JEL: | D63 D85 D91 I14 I31 |
| Date: | 2026–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18899 |
| By: | Hiraoka, Koichi |
| Abstract: | This paper proposes the Relational Anchor Model, a communication-centered theoretical framework explaining why some interpersonal relationships recover after serious conflict while others develop into prolonged relational disconnection. Previous research introduced the concept of Post-Conflict Repair Capacity (PCRC), defined as the ability to resume ordinary interactions—such as greetings, work-related conversations, information sharing, and everyday communication—after interpersonal conflict. Although PCRC captures the observable capacity for relationship repair, it does not fully explain why certain individuals are able to demonstrate such capacity whereas others respond with prolonged avoidance, silence, or relational exclusion. The present study argues that post-conflict relationship repair depends not only on interpersonal skills or personality traits but also on two underlying psychosocial and relational resources. The first is Self-Worth Backbone, referring to a diversified structure of self-worth supported by multiple life domains rather than a single occupational or relational identity. Individuals whose self-worth is supported by multiple domains may be less likely to experience criticism as a threat to their entire self-concept. The second is the Relational Anchor, referring to enduring social bonds that continue to connect two individuals even after their primary relationship has been damaged. Such anchors may consist of shared communities, mutual acquaintances, collective experiences, long-term cooperation, common identities, or emotionally significant memories. The model draws on research on multiplexity (Verbrugge, 1979), embeddedness (Granovetter, 1985), social capital (Coleman, 1988), interaction ritual theory (Collins, 2004), and identity fusion research (Whitehouse & Lanman, 2014). These perspectives collectively suggest that relationship repair is facilitated when interpersonal conflict occurs within broader networks of overlapping social ties rather than isolated dyadic relationships. Building upon PCRC, this study proposes that relationship repair should be understood as a socially supported process rather than merely an individual psychological ability. Psychological safety is therefore reconceptualized not only as the freedom to speak but also as the freedom to return to ordinary interaction after speaking. This temporal extension contributes to organizational communication research by emphasizing the importance of post-conflict relational continuity. The paper further discusses implications for organizational learning, leadership development, and workplace communication. Organizations capable of preserving relational anchors following disagreement may be more likely to sustain dialogue, reflective learning, and long-term collaboration than organizations that respond to criticism through relational exclusion or communicative silence. |
| Date: | 2026–09–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:mediar:pkuvt_v1 |
| By: | Cabau, Noemie; Tenev, Anastas |
| Abstract: | We consider a model of network formation in which agents benefit from intermediation insofar as they are the only bridge between agents who would otherwise be unconnected. Their payoffs depend proportionally on their frequency as intermediaries. We analyze two types of payoffs: global, based on the intermediation across the whole network; and local, based on an agent’s perceived centrality in a subnetwork, measured within a fixed radius around the agent. These capture two measurements of network importance: objective and perceived (subjective). Agents have an incentive to form links so that they become key intermediaries in their (perceived) network and to bypass other key intermediaries in it. However, because payoffs are determined relative to other agents’ contributions, an agent might refrain from forming links if this would expose them to relatively more essential players. In case agents’ payoffs are global, the pairwise stable networks are connected and have at most one (central) agent with a nonzero payoff. In the case where agents’ payoffs are local, we describe the pairwise stable networks and some characteristics of the individual payoffs within them. A class of networks we call augmented stars (stars in which spokes may be connected but no cycle encompasses all spokes) is pairwise stable for both global and all possible local payoffs. |
| Keywords: | social networks, structural holes, network formation, intermediation |
| JEL: | C72 D85 |
| Date: | 2026–08–31 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cvh:coecwp:2026/03 |
| By: | Dioikitopoulos, Evangelos (Athens University of Economics and Business); Megalokonomou, Rigissa (Monash University); Sartori, Tommaso (Monash University); Zenou, Yves (Monash University) |
| Abstract: | Public information campaigns often rely on credible expert messengers to influence people’s beliefs. We study how messenger identity and communication technology shape persuasion in a large-scale randomized experiment on vaccination attitudes among young adults in Greece. Participants receive an identical public-health message that varies only in who delivers it—a medical scientist or a social media influencer—and in how it is delivered—through immersive virtual reality or conventional video. Exposure raises trust in vaccines and trust in the healthcare system. Scientists are rated substantially more credible than influencers yet are no more persuasive on average; the two groups’ effectiveness rests on different characteristics—the scientists’ on perceived reliability and knowledgeability, the influencers’ on personal appeal, prior familiarity, and reputation. We find that persuasion is greater under virtual reality, consistent with stronger engagement. Changes in beliefs persist for at least six months, and initially hesitant participants report greater willingness to vaccinate. A model in which engagement, prior uncertainty, and effective credibility enter persuasion multiplicatively rationalizes these patterns. |
| Keywords: | randomized experiment, persuasion, belief formation, source credibility, messenger familiarity, social media influencers, virtual reality, engagement, health communication, vaccination |
| JEL: | C93 D83 I12 D91 |
| Date: | 2026–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18900 |
| By: | Julian Vedeler Johnsen (UiB - University of Bergen); Laura Khoury (LEDa - Laboratoire d'Economie de Dauphine - IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - Université Paris Dauphine-PSL - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | This paper provides direct evidence that shared incarceration can facilitate the formation of post-release criminal partnerships. Using Norwegian administrative data linking prison spells to police case identifiers, we measure network ties through subsequent co-offending. We exploit time-based variation in exposure within facilities by comparing inmate pairs in the same facility who differ only in whether their spells overlapped. Overlap is associated with a 37% increase in five-year co-offending relative to comparable non-overlapping pairs, robust to extensive controls and timing-based restrictions. Effects are stronger in environments and for pairs where interaction is plausibly more intense, highlighting network formation as a plausible mechanism. |
| Keywords: | Criminal networks, Criminal experience, Co-offending, Recidivism, Criminal behavior, Incarceration, Prison inmates |
| Date: | 2026–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05726614 |