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on Social Norms and Social Capital |
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Issue of 2026–01–19
nine papers chosen by Fabio Sabatini, Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza” |
| By: | Braccioli, Federica; Daniele, Gianmarco; Martinangeli, Andrea FM |
| Abstract: | Democratic institutions worldwide are facing rising distrust. We posit that establishing data-driven narratives on long-term social progress and holding institutions accountable for it can restore confidence in institutions. We focus on public safety, a domain in which progress can be quantified by declining violence across industrialized countries. We implement a large-scale online experiment in Italy, a country particularly prone to negative narratives, exposing 7, 000 adults to data-driven narratives on declining homicide rates, justice efficiency, and corruption reduction in the last twenty years. The information significantly increases social and institutional trust, including incentivised donations to a law enforcement–related organization (effects of 6–9% of a standard deviation). These findings persist fifty days later in a follow-up survey. Effects are strongest when social progress is explicitly linked to state action and for individuals holding more negative views. Both positive news and accountability dynamics drive the results. These findings offer a pathway to counter persistent disillusionment in democratic governance, by showing how aligning public perceptions with societal progress can restore institutional trust. |
| Keywords: | experiment; misperceptions; narratives; social progress; trust |
| Date: | 2025–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wus005:80525533 |
| By: | Artunç, Cihan; Saleh, Mohamed |
| Abstract: | We use a newly assembled dataset covering all Egyptian corporations, their founders, and political officeholders, to demonstrate the differential impact of political connections on firm performance across two distinctive political and economic contexts. Before Egypt’s independence in 1922, political connections reduced firm profitability, as connected firms were perceived to be aligned with the anti-colonial, nationalist movement, unsettling investors. After independence, connections improved firm outcomes by granting preferential access to incorporation and shielding connected companies from competition. These dynamics reflect the shift from a laissez-faire colonial regime to a nationalist industrial policy that selectively favored politically connected firms. |
| Keywords: | political connections; firm dynamics; colonialism; industrial policy |
| JEL: | F54 G38 N45 |
| Date: | 2026–03–31 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:130454 |
| By: | Gurbuz Cuneo, Alev; Tribin Uribe, Ana Maria; Trumbic, Tea; Perrin, Caroline |
| Abstract: | This paper develops a conceptual framework to analyze how gendered social norms mediate the effects of legal frameworks on women’s economic empowerment. Using the World Bank’s Women, Business and the Law domains, Safety, Mobility, Work, Pay, Marriage, Parenthood, Childcare, Entrepreneurship, Assets, and Pension, as an organizing structure, the study conducts a targeted, systematic review of 130 studies focused on nearly 30 single-country cases and diverse regional or multi-country contexts. Each study is coded by domain, research method, and type of norm-law interaction, enabling the identification of patterns of evidence and gaps. Only 56 percent of the reviewed studies establish causal relationships, with most relying on cross-sectional data and concentrated on high-income countries. Qualitative research provides rich contextual insights but remains fragmented. The review highlights a scarcity of longitudinal data, as existing sources differ in the types of information they provide, vary in country coverage, and are often discontinuous over time, resulting in limited evidence on the links or causal relationships between legal reforms and gendered social norms. Although not exhaustive, the paper offers both a conceptual and data-based map of the literature. |
| Date: | 2026–01–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:11288 |
| By: | Zhao, Xialing; Fan, Linlin; Xu, Yilan |
| Abstract: | Understanding how climate change beliefs are shaped by social networks is critical for designing effective climate communication strategies, yet the degree of peer influence across spatial and political contexts remains insufficiently understood. This study examines the influence of peer counties on local climate change beliefs using a spatial autoregressive (SAR) model. We construct geographic, political, and economic peer networks at the county level and quantify the magnitude of peer effects. Results show that a 10% increase in climate change beliefs among peer counties is associated with a 4.2% to 9.2% increase in average beliefs within the focal county, depending on the network type. The geographic peer network exerts the strongest influence, with estimated effects ranging from 6.7% to 9.2%, followed by the political network, with effects between 4.2% and 7.5%. Counterfactual simulations reveal that targeting interventions at top key opinion leader (KOL) counties—those most connected in a network—is more effective than targeting counties with extreme belief levels or KOL counties with below-average beliefs. These findings provide actionable insights for policymakers seeking to promote climate belief formation and encourage climate-friendly behaviors through network-informed interventions. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea25:360759 |
| By: | Hormigos Feliu Clara (European Commission - JRC); Dijkstra Lewis (European Commission - JRC) |
| Abstract: | In this work, trends and drivers of rural trust in institutions are derived based on respondent-level data from the Standard Eurobarometer surveys. We find that, in terms of trust towards the EU, a considerable urban-rural gap exists, with 48% of rural residents declaring that they tend to trust the EU in 2024, 12 percentage points less than city residents (60%). Rural trust in the EU, however, can vary substantially between Member States, with lowest levels being found in France (35%). On the other hand, rural residents place high levels of trust in regional and local authorities (65%), independently of their opinions towards the EU. Less education, more financial difficulties and less qualified jobs, which are more common in rural areas, are all associated with a lower trust towards the EU. After controlling for socioeconomic and demographic factors, however, we find that living in a rural area is still significantly associated with lower trust in the EU, hinting at a connection between rural challenges and citizens’ opinions that goes beyond individual circumstances. |
| Date: | 2025–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:termod:202511 |
| By: | Chen, Xi; Zhang, Xiaobo |
| Abstract: | Blood donation with compensation is considered as a social stigma. However, more people in the reference group donate blood often leads to less moral concern and more followers. Therefore, the behavior is likely to be influenced through one’s interactions with neighbors, friends and relatives. Meanwhile, relative income may affect the motives for blood donation through increasing mistrust and stress. The motives might be stronger for households of lower social rankings. Utilizing three-wave census-type panel data in 18 villages in rural western China, two identification strategies, instrumental variable and network-based identification, are implemented to estimate the effect of social interactions. Both community-specific and household-specific relative income measures are employed to test whether blood donation is more sensitive towards the less well-off in a society. We find strong evidence in support of the effects of social interactions, no matter whether instrumental variables or network centrality measures are adopted. Household-specific measures of relative income show more salient effects on blood donation than community-specific inequality. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, Political Economy |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iamo10:90796 |
| By: | Sinanoglu, Semuhi; von Schiller, Armin |
| Abstract: | How do e-government tools that enable direct online communication with the executive affect citizens' support for autocracy? On the one hand, such centralised digital government tools may sway public opinion in favour of strongman rule at the expense of autocratic institutions; on the other hand, such participation and responsiveness may unintentionally unveil a wide range of issues in the country, undermining trust in the regime. We examine an electronic platform in Turkey, CIMER, that allows citizens to submit petitions and complaints, send messages to the president, and propose policies and programmes. We conducted a well-powered online survey experiment with a nationally representative sample (N≈4, 600) that estimates the effects of different types of regime propaganda around this e-portal on attitudinal and quasi-behavioural outcomes. The results suggest that propaganda through CIMER improves diffuse support for the regime and generates behavioural compliance, even among opposition voters. However, these positive effects accrue to regime institutions rather than to Erdoğan personally as the executive's personalistic leader. On certain dimensions, the propaganda backfires among the regime's core support groups, eroding their perceptions of Erdoğan's popularity as a leader. These results have major implications for the expected downstream effects of these types of digital tools on regime stability and legitimacy, and they add to the growing warnings about holding overly optimistic views concerning the effects of digitalisation on democracy. |
| Keywords: | authoritarian responsiveness, normative support, legitimacy, satisfaction with regime, trust, efficacy, propaganda, digitalisation, public administration |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:diedps:334475 |
| By: | Kramer, Berber; Porter, Maria; Wassie, Solomon Bizuayehu |
| Abstract: | Index insurance lowers agricultural risk but covers only covariate risks. Since farmers do not have complete insurance, they may develop mistrust of insurance when experiencing crop losses and not receiving payouts. Although recent innovations in remote sensing enable the provision of more complete insurance including coverage for idiosyncratic risks, such insurance introduces differences in payouts within social networks, which might be considered unfair, introduce jealousy, and depress insurance demand. We conduct a lab-in-the-field experiment with farmers in Ethiopia to examine whether providing complete insurance coverage affects perceived fairness and insurance demand. We also examine effects of informing farmers about neighbors’ payout experiences. We find that such social comparison increases perceived fairness of index insurance. Providing complete crop insurance increases perceived fairness of outcomes and willingness to pay for insurance, without introducing jealousy over neighbors receiving different payouts. These results are concentrated among men and those with little insurance knowledge. |
| Keywords: | Productivity Analysis, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea25:361093 |
| By: | Jorge Miranda-Pinto; Eugenio Rojas; Felipe Saffie; Alvaro Silva |
| Abstract: | We study how production networks shape the severity of Sudden Stops. We build a small open economy model with collateral constraints and input–output linkages, derive a sufficient statistic that maps network structure onto the amplification of tradable shocks, and show that a planner optimally introduces sectoral wedges to reduce amplification. Using OECD input-output data and Sudden Stop episodes, we document systematic network differences between emerging and advanced economies and show they predict crisis severity. A calibrated three-sector DSGE model disciplined by these differences reveals that endowing an advanced economy with an emerging-market production network moves most of the way toward the observed emerging–advanced Sudden Stop gap. |
| Keywords: | networks; financial crises; sudden stops; macroprudential policy |
| JEL: | D85 D57 E32 |
| Date: | 2025–12–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedbwp:102336 |