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on Social Norms and Social Capital |
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Issue of 2025–12–01
eight papers chosen by Fabio Sabatini, Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza” |
| By: | Leonardo Bursztyn; Alex Imas; Rafael Jiménez-Durán; Aaron Leonard; Christopher Roth |
| Abstract: | Anxiety about falling behind can drive people to embrace emerging technologies with uncertain consequences. We study how social forces shape demand for AI-based learning tools early in the education pipeline. In incentivized experiments with parents—key gatekeepers for children’s AI adoption—we elicit their demand for unrestricted AI tools for teenagers’ education. Parental demand rises with the share of other teenagers using the technology, with social forces increasing willingness to pay for AI by more than 60%. Providing information about potentially adverse effects of unstructured AI use negatively shifts beliefs about the merits of AI, but does not change individual demand. Instead, this information increases parents’ preference for banning AI in schools. Follow-up experiments show that social information has little effect on beliefs about AI quality, perceived skill priorities, or support for bans, suggesting that effects operate through social pressure rather than social learning. Our evidence highlights social pressure driving individual technology adoption despite widespread support for restricting its use. |
| JEL: | D83 D91 I20 O33 |
| Date: | 2025–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34488 |
| By: | Sebastián Pantoja-Barrios |
| Abstract: | Citizens in Colombia's conflict-affected regions protest to demand public goods provision while simultaneously producing public goods independently. This is surprising, as both actions are carried out by poor populations and are frequently repressed by violence. What explains when citizens make demands on the state and contribute to local public goods? Drawing on fiscal social contract theory, I argue that these actions are more likely among taxpayers, who perceive greater economic losses than non-taxpayers from the state's underprovision of public goods. |
| Keywords: | Public goods, Taxation, Politics, Colombia |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2025-90 |
| By: | Michael J. Boskin; Alexander Kleiner; Ian T. Whiton |
| Abstract: | Responses to surveys eliciting evaluations of trust in government, both generally and in specific areas, have varied over time and across countries. Using consistent survey data for 34 OECD countries from 2007-2023, we estimate a model of factors determining levels of trust. We employ a series of econometric techniques of increasing sophistication. The level and growth rate of real income per capita, social spending per capita, the degree of decentralization, and economic freedom all exert positive effects on trust. Inflation, unemployment, and debt per capita negatively affect trust. Additionally, higher levels of human capital and the elderly share of the population negatively affect trust. In the context of trust in government, the estimates suggest a heavier weight on inflation than on unemployment when compared to Okun’s misery index, which weights them equally. Additionally, the estimates are used to evaluate combinations of policies, e.g. debt-financed increases in social spending that affect inflation and/or unemployment, to determine the net effect on trust in government. |
| JEL: | H10 H3 H6 P1 P10 P16 P44 |
| Date: | 2025–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34472 |
| By: | Ping Cheng; Mingzhi Hu; Zhenguo Lin; Yingchun Liu |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates racial disparities in mortgage stress. We begin by developing a simple model, and using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), we find that black borrowers are significantly more susceptible to mortgage stress than their white counterparts, even after controlling for observable factors Our analysis reveals that a substantial portion of this racial gap can be attributed to differences in financial literacy levels, with only 14.1% of black borrowers demonstrating financial literacy compared to 52.9% of white borrowers. In particular, we find that the variance in financial literacy can account for 15.2% of the racial disparity in mortgage stress, and achieving parity in financial literacy could reduce the racial gap by 24.9%. Furthermore, our analysis highlights that the racial disparity is most pronounced in states with low levels of social capital, underscoring the role of social capital in ameliorating racial disparities. Policies and initiatives aimed at enhancing the financial literacy and social capital of black borrowers can help narrow the racial gap in mortgage stress. |
| Keywords: | Financial literacy; Mortgage stress; racial disparity; Social Capital |
| JEL: | R3 |
| Date: | 2025–01–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arz:wpaper:eres2025_7 |
| By: | Jessie Trudeau |
| Abstract: | How does criminal group taxation affect participation in elections? I argue that criminal groups that tax public service provision use it as a technology of governance, which gives them a comparative advantage in voter mobilization. I predict that higher levels of criminal taxes on services ultimately lead to higher levels of voter participation, and contrast the service provision mechanism with other mechanisms related to coercive taxation and bottom-up reactions to being taxed. |
| Keywords: | Crime, Taxation, Governance, Voter turnout, Political participation |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2025-86 |
| By: | Schreiner, Nicolas (University of Basel); Stutzer, Alois (University of Basel) |
| Abstract: | We study how citizens’ right to directly decide on policies through popular initiatives affects the attractiveness of extreme candidates in representative elections. In our theoretical framework, single prominent policy issues on which individual voters hold extreme views get a large weight in their assessment of candidates, thereby favoring ideologically extreme ones. If citizens can decide the controversial policy issues separately on the ballot, this decouples the issues from legislative politics and moderate candidates become relatively more attractive to voters. We apply our theory to U.S. state legislative elections and find that ideologically extreme candidates receive significantly lower voter support in initiative than in non-initiative states. This holds in particular for states with low qualification requirements for initiatives. In concurrent elections for the U.S. House we do not observe this difference in the electoral success of extreme candidates between initiative and non-initiative states. The effect seems partly mediated by lower campaign donations to extreme candidates. |
| Keywords: | moderating selection effect, initiative right, extremist ideology, direct democracy, campaign donations, polarization, political institutions, voting |
| JEL: | D02 D72 |
| Date: | 2025–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18266 |
| By: | Altman, Emily; Schillinger, Dean; Villas-Boas, Sofia; Schmidt, Laura; Falbe, Jennifer; Madsen, Kristine A |
| Abstract: | BackgroundSocial norms can influence individual health behaviors. Shifts in social norms for smoking were critical for the effectiveness of tobacco control efforts such as excise taxes. Sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) excise taxes have been implemented in municipalities across the United States to reduce SSB intake and improve health. We sought to identify trends in social norms and attitudes about healthfulness of sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) consumption in the California Bay Area and examine whether social norms and attitudes changed following SSB taxes.MethodsData came from annual (2016–2019, 2021) cross-sectional surveys (n = 9128) in lower-income neighborhoods in Oakland, San Francisco, Berkeley, and Richmond. We assessed overall trends and compared pre-post tax changes in Oakland and San Francisco with comparison cities.ResultsWe observed a 28% reduction in social norms for SSB consumption (people’s perceptions of peers’ consumption) and variable reductions in attitudes about the healthfulness of SSBs. Relative to comparison cities, post-tax, perceptions of peers’ consumption of sports drinks declined in Oakland; attitudes about the healthfulness of sugar-sweetened fruit drinks declined in San Francisco.ConclusionsAmong lower-income populations, social norms and attitudes towards the healthfulness of SSBs meaningfully declined over time, with smaller tax-related effects. SSB taxes as well as the local media attention they generate appear to affect people’s perceptions of SSBs. Pairing SSB taxes with messaging campaigns may be more effective in de-normalizing SSB consumption. |
| Keywords: | 4206 Public Health (for-2020), 42 Health Sciences (for-2020), Clinical Research (rcdc), Prevention (rcdc), Social Determinants of Health (rcdc), Cardiovascular (hrcs-hc), 3 Good Health and Well Being (sdg), Humans (mesh), Taxes (mesh), California (mesh), Sugar-Sweetened Beverages (mesh), Female (mesh), Male (mesh), Cross-Sectional Studies (mesh), Social Norms (mesh), Adult (mesh), Middle Aged (mesh), Young Adult (mesh), Adolescent (mesh), Aged (mesh), Sugar-sweetened beverages, Public health policy, Social norms, Health attitudes, Humans (mesh), Cross-Sectional Studies (mesh), Adolescent (mesh), Adult (mesh), Aged (mesh), Middle Aged (mesh), Taxes (mesh), California (mesh), Female (mesh), Male (mesh), Young Adult (mesh), Social Norms (mesh), Sugar-Sweetened Beverages (mesh), Health attitudes, Public health policy, Social norms, Sugar-sweetened beverages, Humans (mesh), Taxes (mesh), California (mesh), Sugar-Sweetened Beverages (mesh), Female (mesh), Male (mesh), Cross-Sectional Studies (mesh), Social Norms (mesh), Adult (mesh), Middle Aged (mesh), Young Adult (mesh), Adolescent (mesh), Aged (mesh), 1117 Public Health and Health Services (for), Public Health (science-metrix) |
| Date: | 2024–01–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:agrebk:qt66j7c1hd |
| By: | Witte, Marc J. (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) |
| Abstract: | What motivates workers’ referral decisions? Combining a field experiment in a firm and urban social network data, I first show that workers primarily refer those who previously referred them. This reciprocity leads to significant on-the-job productivity losses and excludes less connected individuals. Incentivized referrals reduce reciprocity and make workers screen more productive colleagues. Second, peripheral workers use referrals strategically to establish new and reciprocated links which persist after 18 months. These results are consistent with a network-based referral model where individuals trade off pecuniary and social incentives. The findings suggest that referrals through social networks can reinforce labor market inequalities. |
| Keywords: | field experiment, social networks, job referrals |
| Date: | 2025–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18258 |