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on Social Norms and Social Capital |
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Issue of 2025–11–10
seven papers chosen by Fabio Sabatini, Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza” |
| By: | Andreas Diemer; Tanner Regan; Cheng Keat Tang |
| Abstract: | We study the extent of segregation in the social space of urban America. We measure segregation as the (lack of) actual personal connections between neighbourhoods as opposed to conventional measures that assume the strength of these connections. We distinguish social segregation from geographical definitions of segregation, building and comparing city-level indices of each. We apply our measures to the 75 largest MSAs in the USA. Cities like Miami, Washington DC, and Cincinnati rank higher in social segregation than they do based on the conventional residential isolation, while New Orleans, San Francisco, and Richmond fall in ranks. Conditional on residential segregation, cities with more institutions that foster social cohesion (churches and community associations) are less socially segregated. Looking at within-city variation across neighbourhoods, growing up more socially exposed to non-White neighbourhoods is related to various adulthood outcomes (jailed, income rank, married, and non-migrant) for Black individuals. Social exposure to non-White neighbourhoods is related to worsening adulthood outcomes in neighbourhoods that are majority non-White. Our results suggest that social connections, beyond residential location or other spatial relationships, are important for understanding the effective segregation of race in America. |
| Keywords: | Residential and Social Segregation; Networks; Social connectedness. |
| JEL: | R23 J15 |
| Date: | 2025–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gwc:wpaper:2025-008 |
| By: | Roberto Dell'Anno (Department of Economics and Statistics - University of Salerno - Italy and CELPE); Marcello Puca (Department of Economics and Statistics - University of Salerno - Italy, CELPE and CSEF) |
| Abstract: | Measuring illicit behavior such as tax evasion and underground economy through surveys is challenging due to social desirability bias. We examine how interviewer–respondent social distance affects the reporting of informal employment in an anonymous survey conducted by university students. Using variation in the relationship between inter- viewer and respondent, we estimate probit models and find that disclosure is lowest when the interviewer is a relative or friend, and higher when the interviewer is either an immediate family member or someone with no prior connection. This non-monotonic pattern suggests that both trust and anonymity facilitate truthful reporting, while intermediate social proximity increases self-censorship. The findings highlight a previously overlooked source of measurement error in survey-based estimates of informal labor. |
| Keywords: | Survey Methods; Informality; Tax Evasion; Social Distance |
| JEL: | C83 J46 H26 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sal:celpdp:021754 |
| By: | Effrosyni Adamopoulou (ZEW, University of Mannheim, and IZA); Jeremy Greenwood (University of Pennsylvania); Nezih Guner (CEMFI and Banco de España); Karen Kopecky (FRB Cleveland and Emory University) |
| Abstract: | The role of friends in the US opioid epidemic is examined. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health (Add Health), adults aged 25-34 and their high school best friends are focused on. An instrumental variable technique is employed to estimate peer effects in opioid misuse. Severe injuries in the previous year are used as an instrument for opioid misuse in order to estimate the causal impact of a person’s best friends’ opioid misuse on their own misuse. The estimated peer effects are significant: Having a best friend who misuses opioids following a serious injury increases the probability of own opioid misuse by around 7 percentage points in a population where 17 percent ever misuses opioids. The effect is concentrated among non-college graduates and peers with strong ties who are central in their friendship networks. Peer opioid misuse eventually leads to deteriorating health and opioid addiction. |
| Keywords: | Opioid, peer-group effects, friends, instrumental variables, Add Health, severe injuries. |
| JEL: | C26 D10 I12 J11 |
| Date: | 2025–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cmf:wpaper:wp2025_2520 |
| By: | Caroline Graf (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Faculty of Social Sciences, Netherlands); Andreas Pondorfer (TU Munich, TUM Campus Straubing for Biotechnology and Sustainablity & TUM School of Management, Germany); Jonathan Schulz (George Mason University, Economics, USA) |
| Abstract: | Gender differences in preferences play a crucial role in shaping economic outcomes. This study examines cross-societal variation in gender differences in honesty, testing whether they reflect innate traits or are shaped by social norms. Using global experimental and survey data, we find that gender differences in honesty emerge primarily in Western societies, where women report stronger honesty norms than men, while such differences are absent in non-Western societies. Additional evidence shows that gender differences in honesty norms are transmitted across generations and narrow as countries become wealthier. These patterns suggest that gender differences in honesty are better explained by socialization rather than innate traits. |
| Keywords: | honesty, gender differences, socialization |
| JEL: | C90 D91 Z10 |
| Date: | 2025–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aiw:wpaper:45 |
| By: | Pau Juan-Bartroli; Esteban Mu\~noz-Sobrado |
| Abstract: | The sustainability of cooperation is crucial for understanding the progress of societies. We study a repeated game in which individuals decide the share of their income to transfer to other group members. A central feature of our model is that individuals may, with some probability, switch incomes across periods, our measure of income mobility, while the overall income distribution remains constant over time. We analyze how income mobility and income inequality affect the sustainability of contribution norms, informal agreements about how much each member should transfer to the group. We find that greater income mobility facilitates cooperation. In contrast, the effect of inequality is ambiguous and depends on the progressivity of the contribution norm and the degree of mobility. We apply our framework to an optimal taxation problem to examine the interaction between public and private redistribution. |
| Date: | 2025–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2510.26503 |
| By: | Amit Basole; M. K. Shravan; R. Vijayamba |
| Abstract: | We examine the role of household-level social norms regarding women's mobility in determining the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on women's employment. The shock of the pandemic containment measures, such as India's nationwide lockdown caused both supply- and demand-side disruptions. Nationally representative labor force surveys offer suggestive evidence that loss of income and employment for men could plausibly have increased the labor market participation of women, particularly in self-employment, in order to smooth household consumption. But whether women are able to respond in this manner to a negative income shock is likely to be mediated by social norms around mobility. Using the fourth and fifth rounds of the National Family Health Survey (2015-16 and 2019-20), we show that this was indeed the case. We find that women residing in districts with more progressive gender norms in the baseline period (2015-16) were significantly more likely to be employed as compared to women residing in districts with stricter norms, controlling for the husband’s employment and other relevant household- and individual-level factors. |
| Keywords: | India; COVID-19; women's employment; social norms |
| JEL: | J1 J22 Z13 |
| Date: | 2025–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lev:wrkpap:wp_1096 |
| By: | Tamilina, Larysa |
| Abstract: | Using Ukraine as an example, this study explores how performance-based and ideational factors interact in shaping institutional trust under wartime conditions. Fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) is employed to analyse their joint presence in configurations associated with high and low levels of trust in state institutions. The findings suggest that trust is primarily shaped by performance indicators—economic satisfaction, perceived corruption, and personal safety—while ideational factors such as national identity, war-related ideologies, and democratic values play a secondary role. However, misalignment with dominant ideational narratives tend to exacerbate distrust during conflict, especially when institutional performance is perceived as weak. These results are used to argue that a divergence may appear between regime and institutional legitimacy in conflict-affected regions. |
| Keywords: | Institutional trust, interstate conflicts, legitimacy, Ukraine, fsQCA. |
| JEL: | C1 K4 P2 |
| Date: | 2025–06–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:126536 |