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on Social Norms and Social Capital |
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Issue of 2026–09–21
eight papers chosen by Fabio Sabatini, Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza” |
| By: | Eleonora Guarnieri; Ana Tur-Prats |
| Abstract: | Why do some cultures go extinct while others prevail? In this paper, we show that a society's risk of cultural extinction, proxied by language loss, is shaped by its ancestral gender norms and by how these norms differ from those of competing cultures. Using the Ethnologue and the Male Dominance Index for a global sample of languages, we start by showing that languages from more gender-equal societies face a higher likelihood of extinction than those from male-dominant societies. We propose a conceptual framework in which male-dominant societies are more expansionist via two channels: (i) military capacity sustained through surplus extraction, and (ii) demographic pressure through women's specialization in domestic and reproductive labor. As a result, they expand at the expense of more gender-egalitarian groups. We test this prediction in two empirical settings. Leveraging European colonization as a natural experiment, we find that Indigenous societies with more gender-equal norms than their colonizers are more vulnerable to cultural extinction. We examine alternative pre-colonial societal arrangements and find that cultural extinction is best explained by asymmetries in male dominance rather than in hierarchy or dominance more broadly. Exploiting local variation in neighboring groups' gender structure across Africa, we further show that languages from gender-egalitarian societies are less likely to survive in grid cells located close to male-dominant neighbors, with military capacity and population pressure predicting language expansion across the continent. |
| Keywords: | cultural diversity, language extinction, gender norms, Inter-group contact |
| JEL: | Z10 O10 F54 J16 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12968 |
| By: | Patrick Allmis; Matthew Elliott; Christian Ghiglino; Alastair Langtry |
| Abstract: | Although social mobility is widely viewed as desirable, we document an 'inverse-U' shaped relationship with well-being: mobility is positively associated with well-being when low, but the association diminishes as mobility increases and eventually becomes negative. To explain this, we build a model in which agents are embedded in a social comparison network and suffer from falling behind their peers. The model highlights two channels that can cause welfare to be decreasing in mobility at high levels. First, when mobility is high, further increases widen already significant gaps between agents from similar parental backgrounds but of different abilities. Second, when mobility is high, high-ability agents are already relatively well off. So further increases in social mobility increase inequality. We find evidence supportive of both channels in US data. The model also predicts, and data supports, that social integration -- where relationships form more along ability than background lines -- allows societies to benefit from mobility for longer. We interpret this as social mobility being multidimensional with both economic and social dimensions that are complementary. |
| Date: | 2026–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2609.06841 |
| By: | Eleanor A. Power; Monique Borgerhoff Mulder; Samuel Bowles; Matthew O. Jackson; Jeremy Koster; Daniel Redhead; Thomas Rutter; Sahana Subramanyam; Justin Weltz; Nurul Alam; Sarah Alami; Alexandra Alvergne; Curtis Atkisson; Michele Barnes; Bret Beheim; Christine M. Beitl; Madeline Brown; Mark Caudell; Wendy Ch\'{a}vez-P\'{a}ez; Komal Chauhan; Joshua Cinner; Siobh\'{a}n Cully; Augusto Dalla Ragione; Angelina L. DeMarco; Ivan Deschenaux; Federico Fernandez; Juan Pablo Ferreiro; Drew Gerkey; Matthew Gervais; Christopher Golden; Gianluca Grimalda; Werner Hertzog; Paul L. Hooper; Karen Kramer; Geoff Kushnick; Banrida Langstieh; Rodrigo Lazo; Sheina Lew-Levy; Shane Macfarlan; Emmanuel Maliti; Karl J. Mertens; Madalena Monteban; Rafael Morais Chiaravalloti; Daniel Murphy; Kathryn Oths; Alejandro P\'{e}rez Velilla; Emily Post; Sean Prall; Cody Ross; Anirudh Sankar; Brooke Scelza; Michael Schnegg; Edmond Seabright; Mary K. Shenk; Kathrine E. Starkweather; Chun-Yi Sum; Bram Tucker; Bapu Vaitla; Vivek Venkataraman; John P. Ziker |
| Abstract: | Despite theory tying wealth inequality to social structure, empirical evidence has been limited to a few studies based on online social media data. This study uses a very different type of data, expands the global coverage to very different types of societies, and investigates new questions. In particular, we collect data from ~3500 sharing units (households) in 46 communities across the globe, representing considerable human social and cultural diversity. In each, we analyze the relationship between people's material wealth and the structure of social networks: borrowing money, sharing food, working together, socializing, etc. In almost all communities, a sharing unit's material wealth is positively associated with the number of other sharing units it both helps and is helped by. A sharing unit's wealth is also associated with the relative wealth of the sharing units to which it is linked---a form of economic homophily. Notably, communities with greater wealth inequality are also characterized by a network structure in which poorer sharing units are less well connected to wealthier ones. We augment our unique cross-cultural data with other community-level environmental, institutional, and economic attributes, opening new avenues for future research into the co-determination of wealth and social networks. |
| Date: | 2026–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2608.25488 |
| 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 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12961 |
| By: | Isabelle Muratore (CERGAM - Centre d'Études et de Recherche en Gestion d'Aix-Marseille - AMU - Aix Marseille Université - UTLN - Université de Toulon); Stephanie Nguyen (CERGAM - Centre d'Études et de Recherche en Gestion d'Aix-Marseille - AMU - Aix Marseille Université - UTLN - Université de Toulon) |
| Abstract: | This study examines how social norms conveyed by different agents of socialization (family, peers, school, and media) influence young people's intentions to reduce red and processed meat consumption (RPMC). Drawing on socialization and social norms theory, we show with a survey of French adolescents (N=237) that descriptive norms associated with parents and peers significantly influence RPMC reduction intentions. Injunctive norms from parents, school, and media are also effective, whereas peer injunctive norms are not. |
| Keywords: | Red and processed meat consumption reduction (RPMC), descriptive norm, injunctive norm, socialization |
| Date: | 2026–07–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05745648 |
| By: | Min, Yi (University of Birmingham); Elliott, Robert J.R. (University of Birmingham); Melander, Eric (University of Birmingham, CAGE) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we document how deep-seated cultural norms result in unintended demographic responses to two reforms in China: (1) the One-Child Policy and (2) land reform under the Household Responsibility System. Constructing and validating an index of historical patriarchal norms based on soil suitability for plough use and combining this with fertility and sex ratio data, we estimate the heterogeneous impacts of the reforms in a difference-in-differences framework. Results show that in counties characterised by strong patriarchy, where son preference is plausibly higher, families with a firstborn girl resisted population control and saw smaller decreases in second-child fertility after the implementation of the One-Child Policy. Moreover, land reform heightened the male-bias in the second-child sex ratio among firstborn-girl families, resulting in approximately 0.89 million missing girls in high-patriarchy counties as a result of norms-induced sex selection. Our results reveal an enduring legacy of historical norms and the importance of cultural forces as drivers of gender (in)equality. |
| Keywords: | Patriarchal norms, son preference, One-Child Policy, land reform. JEL Classification: J13, J16, N35, O15, Q18, Z13 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cge:wacage:823 |
| By: | Sven A. Simon; Sven Arne Simon |
| Abstract: | Ignorance of facts and laws may provide an excuse for self-serving reporting behavior, even at the risk of telling the untruth. This paper examines what decision-makers report when they do not know their true entitlement to a financial gain, why they do so, and how the resulting dilemma under ignorance can be mitigated. In a theory-guided online experiment, I show that ignorance substantially increases self-serving but potentially untruthful reporting behavior relative to a full-information benchmark. Three mechanisms – two behavioral and one institutional – drive this shift: (i) decision-makers' beliefs about their true entitlement, (ii) social norms governing reporting under ignorance, and (iii) the requirement to provide a definite statement. I evaluate two interventions: allowing information acquisition and offering a fair buyout of the unknown entitlement. Both mitigate self-serving reporting under ignorance, but the fair buyout involves a trade-off: it has the unintended side effect of increasing dishonesty among informed decision-makers. |
| Keywords: | dishonesty, ignorance, information acquisition, fair buyout, social norms, experiment |
| JEL: | C91 D83 D91 H26 K42 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12985 |
| By: | Olivér Ujvárossy (ELTE Centre for Economic and Regional Studies); Hubert János Kiss (ELTE Centre for Economic and Regional Studies; Corvinus University of Budapest) |
| Abstract: | We study whether classroom gender composition is associated with adolescents' risk-taking and willingness to compete. Using lab-in-the-field data from 1, 108 students in 53 classes from nine Hungarian secondary schools, we relate incentivized measures of both outcomes to the share of girls in the class. School fixed effects compare students across classes within the same school, and we interpret these comparisons as conditional associations because class composition is not randomly assigned. Student-level regressions show robust gender gaps: girls are less risk-taking and less willing to compete than boys. Classroom gender composition, however, is not systematically associated with either outcome. Flexible specifications and analyses of boys and class-level gender gaps likewise reveal no consistent pattern. |
| Keywords: | Gender composition; Risk-taking; Willingness to compete; Classroom peers; Adolescents |
| JEL: | C80 C90 D91 I21 J16 |
| Date: | 2026–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:has:discpr:2612 |