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on Social Norms and Social Capital |
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Issue of 2026–10–12
twelve papers chosen by Fabio Sabatini, Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza” |
| By: | Stefanie S Baumgartner (UNIFR - Université de Fribourg = University of Fribourg); Fabio Galeotti (GATE Lyon Saint-Étienne - Groupe d'Analyse et de Théorie Economique Lyon - Saint-Etienne - UL2 - Université Lumière - Lyon 2 - UJM - Université Jean Monnet - Saint-Étienne - UJM EPE - Université Jean Monnet (EPSCPE) - EM - EMLyon Business School - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Thierry Madiès (UNIFR - Université de Fribourg = University of Fribourg); Marie Claire Villeval (GATE Lyon Saint-Étienne - Groupe d'Analyse et de Théorie Economique Lyon - Saint-Etienne - UL2 - Université Lumière - Lyon 2 - UJM - Université Jean Monnet - Saint-Étienne - UJM EPE - Université Jean Monnet (EPSCPE) - EM - EMLyon Business School - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | Trust plays a crucial role in refugees' integration. This study examines how social information about trust levels among peers from home and host countries affects non-Western refugees' trust. Using a trust game, we experimentally measured trust levels among Swiss citizens, Turkish refugees, and Afghan refugees. We found that Turkish refugees exhibited higher trust levels than Afghan refugees, but no significant differences in trust were observed between Swiss participants and either refugee group. Turkish refugees adjusted their trust to match Swiss levels when receiving social information, but observation by compatriots reduced this effect. By contrast, Afghan refugees exhibited a more limited response to social information, except when told their behavior would be revealed, which led them to align more closely with Swiss trust levels. These findings highlight the complex impact of social information on refugee trust behavior and suggest that trust can be a social norm. |
| Keywords: | Social norms, Lab-in-the-field experiment, Social information, Trust, Refugees |
| Date: | 2026–09–28 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05001907 |
| By: | Trung V. Vu |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the role of long-term population relatedness in shaping global variation in state capacity. It argues that longer periods of ancestral separation are associated with greater divergence in intergenerationally transmitted civic norms governing voluntary compliance with state institutions. Ancestral distance may also hinder the international diffusion of effective state institutions, contributing to persistent cross-country differences in state capacity. The empirical analysis shows that countries with greater ancestral distance from the global frontier of effective state institutions exhibit lower state capacity. Dyadic regressions further indicate that ancestral distance is associated with greater divergence in state capacity. To examine a potential cultural foundation of this relationship, I exploit variation in cultural backgrounds among second-generation immigrants residing in the same country. I find that immigrant populations with greater ancestral distance exhibit larger differences in self-reported attitudes towards voluntary tax compliance. Taken together, the findings suggest that ancestral distance is an important historical predictor of cross-country disparities in state capacity, consistent with a role for divergence in civic norms and barriers to institutional diffusion. |
| Keywords: | ancestral distance, long-term relatedness, state capacity, civic culture |
| JEL: | H11 H77 O11 O19 P51 |
| Date: | 2026–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:een:camaaa:2026-84 |
| By: | Cevat Giray Aksoy; Nicolas Ajzenman; Harry Pickard |
| Abstract: | Populists govern more of the world's countries than at any point in the past century, on both the right and the left. What they share is not an economic programme but a worldview that casts politics as a struggle between ordinary citizens and a self-serving establishment, a conflict that is zero-sum at its core. We show that exposure to this political environment leaves a durable imprint on citizens' beliefs. Combining data on populist leaders with surveys of more than 260, 000 respondents in 53 countries, we exploit within-country-survey-year variation across birth cohorts and find that greater exposure during early adulthood is associated with stronger zerosum beliefs later in life. The result is replicated in two independent surveys and across multiple measures of zero-sum thinking and perceived economic conflict and persists into respondents' mid-forties. The associations extend to voting intentions: exposure does not predict support for populist parties overall, but it does predict support for ideologically extreme parties aligned with the populist rule experienced in early adulthood. The mechanism evidence provides little support for an economic-scarcity explanation and instead points towards a rhetorical channel, as populist rule features substantially more anti-elite rhetoric in two independent measures and more domestic zero-sum framing in United Nations speeches. |
| Keywords: | Populism, zero-sum beliefs, political socialisation, belief formation |
| JEL: | D72 P16 |
| Date: | 2026–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:26243 |
| By: | Leidorf-Tidå, B.J.A.; König, Pascal |
| Abstract: | Trust in artificial intelligence (AI) applications is deemed crucial for uptake of the technology and the development of an AI market. In the present article, we argue that the institutional design of regulatory regimes matters for whether citizens trust AI systems. We study how trust in AI systems depends on who the responsible regulator is, the scope of the regulator’s scrutiny of AI systems, and the involvement of external stakeholders in regulatory oversight. Based on a conjoint design, we examine how respondents value these institutional design choices for the case of high-risk AI systems used in health care. Using samples from Lithuania, Romania, Sweden, and the Netherlands, with 4001 respondents overall, the pre-registered experiment shows that citizens have more trust in AI systems if vendors, civil society and especially independent researchers are involved in oversight, and if regulators actively scrutinize AI systems rather than relying solely on self-reporting. At least in two countries, citizens also seem to have more trust in AI systems if the sectoral health care regulator is the responsible regulator instead of a cross-sectoral regulator such as the national Data Protection Authority or a specific AI regulator. |
| Date: | 2026–10–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:by96n_v1 |
| By: | Di Giacomo Marina (University of Turin, Italy); Mantovani Marco (University of Milan Bicocca, Italy); Poggi Ambra (ESOMAS Department, University of Turin, Italy) |
| Abstract: | Cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains the leading cause of death worldwide. Early detection of CVD risk factors through preventive screening programs can substantially reduce adverse outcomes, yet participation rates remain suboptimal. In this paper, we examine whether perceived social closeness between the sender and the recipient of an invitation to a free cardiovascular health check affects health beliefs and willingness to engage in preventive health intentions. Using a survey experiment on a representative sample of approximately 2, 588 individuals aged 40-74 in England-the target population for the NHS Health Check program-we randomly assign participants to receive an invitation message from a peer who either shares or does not share their social norms. We study whether social closeness between the messenger and the recipient shapes perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, and perceived benefits, as predicted by the Health Belief Model. The manipulation successfully alters perceptions of social closeness, and the estimated effects are consistent with the hypothesis that socially closer peer messages are more effective in promoting preventive health intentions. |
| Keywords: | Preventive healthcare, survey experiment, behavioral public policies, social closeness, cardiovascular disease |
| JEL: | I12 I18 D91 |
| Date: | 2026–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tur:wpapnw:110 |
| By: | Evangelos Dioikitopoulos; Rigissa Megalokonomou; Tommaso Sartori; Yves Zenou |
| 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: | 2026–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:26236 |
| By: | Vasiliki Fouka; Marco Tabellini |
| Abstract: | In this chapter, we discuss how immigration affects identity, with implications for politics. We build on key insights from social psychology and their formalization in economics to derive predictions about how immigration changes both self-identification and categorization of others into groups. These immigration-induced identity changes can explain two recent political transformations that have characterized many Western democracies: the rise of right-wing populism and the realignment of voters and parties along a socio-cultural, rather than economic, dimension of political conflict. We also discuss how immigration can reshape group boundaries and political cleavages, depending on the characteristics of immigrants, host populations, and the local context. We highlight open questions and possible directions for future research |
| Keywords: | Immigration, refugees, social identity, nationalism, redistribution, populism, polarization |
| JEL: | D91 J15 D72 N32 Z13 |
| Date: | 2026–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:26247 |
| By: | Kuhn, Andreas (Swiss Federal University for Vocational Education and Training) |
| Abstract: | Women have caught up significantly with men in recent decades, but occupational choices remain stubbornly segregated by gender. One particularly popular hypothesis postulates that societal gender norms are the key factor explaining this phenomenon. I attempt to test the validity of this claim as directly as possible in this paper, using a unique combination of different data sources. Data covering the full stock of apprenticeship contracts active in the school year 2021/22 allows me to construct geographically disaggregated measures of occupational segregation, and I use local results from five national-level votes on gender-related policies to construct a measure of local gender norms. The data reveal that there is a statistically significant and practically relevant association between local gender norms and the regional extent of occupational segregation, with more progressive norms associated with less segregation. However, further analyses, carried out by leveraging two distinct identification strategies, point to a small and ultimately insignificant effect of gender norms on occupational segregation once potential confounders are taken into account. |
| Keywords: | occupational choice, occupational segregation, gender norms, apprenticeship, culture, spatial analysis, language border, geographic quasi-experiment |
| JEL: | D91 J16 J24 |
| Date: | 2026–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18975 |
| By: | Dante Donati; Lena Song |
| Abstract: | Online comment sections let a small number of vocal individuals reach far beyond their own networks. We conduct a large-scale field experiment on Facebook that randomizes the presence and stance of comments beneath posts for a racial justice organization, reaching around one million U.S. users. Opposing comments increase reactions, comments, and link clicks by 15–43 percent relative to no comments, whereas supportive comments have little effect. A complementary survey experiment shows that similar opposing comments make attitudes less progressive and reduce donations to the organization. Through a common feature of online platforms, the vocal few can exert outsized influence. |
| Keywords: | social media, comments, user-generated content, social influence, field experiments |
| JEL: | C93 D72 D83 D91 J15 L82 L86 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_13018 |
| By: | Jiri Schwarz; Tomas Havranek; Zuzana Irsova; Jiri Novak |
| Abstract: | Reported estimates of the size premium, the tendency of smaller firms to earn higher average returns than larger firms, vary widely across studies, countries, periods, and designs. We examine whether generalized trust and rule of law help account for that heterogeneity. Small firms are more opaque and more dependent on outside finance, so the enforcement and information environment should matter more for them than for large firms. We study 1, 613 reported size-slope estimates from 105 studies and 31 countries. The meta-regressions control for study design, specification, precision, publication context, and market and macro-financial conditions; Bayesian model averaging assesses uncertainty over the control set. The more stable association is with rule of law, and it runs against the intuitive expectation that better legal institutions shrink the premium: stronger rule of law is associated with more negative reported size slopes, hence larger conventional size premia. The trust association is conditional and less precisely estimated: where rule of law is weak, higher generalized trust is linked to less negative reported slopes (and thus a weaker premium), and this link fades as rule of law strengthens. Formal and informal institutions thus help organize part of the disagreement in this literature, although the analysis concerns variation in reported estimates and does not identify causal effects. |
| Date: | 2026–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2609.26212 |
| By: | Oded Galor; Marc Klemp; Daniel C. Wainstock |
| Abstract: | What gave rise to the mosaic of cultural expressions across the globe? Why are some societies more culturally diverse than others? This study develops a unified theory of cultural evolution, characterizing the forces that have governed this process over the course of human existence. The research advances the hypothesis that population movements and socioeconomic transformations generated a mismatch between inherited cultural traits and prevailing ecological and societal conditions, setting in motion an evolutionary process governed by adaptation-based vertical transmission, horizontal diffusion, and fitness-based evolutionary selection. The theory generates novel testable predictions concerning the origins of the global cultural mosaic and the cross-societal variation in cultural diversity. First, greater ecological distance between ancestral environments generated greater cultural distance across societies. Second, prehistoric differences in ancestral diversity contributed to divergent adaptive capacity and greater cultural distance. Third, societies descended from more diverse prehistoric populations exhibit greater cultural diversity despite convergence induced by adaptation to a common environment and societal norms. Drawing on measures of cultural distance and diversity derived from folkloric and musical traditions among ethnic groups, visual representations of common concepts, and the dispersion of norms, values, and attitudes, the empirical analysis lends credence to the predictions of the theory. |
| Keywords: | Cultural Diversity, Adaptation, Fitness, Cultural Evolution, Vertical Transmission, Social Norms |
| JEL: | O10 Z10 |
| Date: | 2026–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:26249 |
| By: | Benjamin W. Arold; Afonso Alves Monteiro; Constantine Yannelis |
| Abstract: | This paper studies whether school prayer and Bible reading affect adult beliefs and behavior. We exploit the U.S. Supreme Court's early-1960s school-prayer decisions, which removed these practices only from states where they were still legal. Linking this state-by-cohort variation to adult outcomes in the General Social Survey, we estimate the long-run effects of removing school prayer on religiosity, family formation, labor market outcomes, gender attitudes, and social views. The abolition of school prayer lowers adult religiosity; reduces marriage and fertility; increases employment; and shifts gender and selected social attitudes in a less traditional direction. The employment effect is driven by women, and may operate partly through decreased full-time homemaking and less traditional gender roles. A decomposition indicates that school prayer bans explain more than half the decline in American religious attendance, and roughly one quarter of the decline in fertility and rise in female labor force participation. The findings show that even brief daily devotional practices in childhood can shape adult beliefs, family life, and economic behavior. |
| Keywords: | School prayer; religious education; religiosity; childhood socialization; family formation; female labor supply |
| JEL: | Z12 I21 J12 J16 |
| Date: | 2026–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:26244 |