|
on Social Norms and Social Capital |
|
Issue of 2005‒07‒18
four papers chosen by Fabio Sabatini Universitá degli Studi di Roma, La Sapienza |
| By: | Jimena Hurtado |
| Abstract: | The economic approach to the study of human behavior has been presented by its foremost representative as the most effective method of studying social phenomena. Gary Becker’s view supposes that, on the one hand, all social phenomena can be explained as a consequence of individual actions and, on the other, there is a stable pattern of individual behavior economics has been able to understand thoroughly. Hence, economics, according to this view, is no longer limited to the study of a certain domain of human actions or to the understanding of material wealth or the necessary conditions for the material reproduction of society. Economics is a method that gives the social scientist the necessary tools to understand and even transform the world that surrounds him/her. Becker clearly acknowledges the direct link between his approach and Jeremy Bentham’s theory. Beyond the apparent connections regarding their conception of human nature there is one central point that links the two authors: their view of economics as an attitude of the human mind, an inherent capacity to calculate that explains all human actions. This paper argues that Bentham provides the philosophical groundings for Becker’s theory. The application of the principle of utility to every aspect of human behavior justifies economic imperialism by transforming economics into a method of general analysis of human behavior. Indeed, economics is no longer defined according to its subject matter but according to its method, which means an increasing scope explaining Becker’s claim that the economic approach provides a rigorous framework for the analysis of all social phenomena. |
| Keywords: | Gary Becker, |
| JEL: | A12 |
| Date: | 2005–04–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000138:001085&r=soc |
| By: | Charles Bellemare (Université Laval, CIRPÉE and IZA Bonn); Sabine Kröger (University of Arizona); Arthur van Soest (RAND Corporation, Tilburg University and IZA Bonn) |
| Abstract: | We combine the choice data of proposers and responders in the ultimatum game, their expectations elicited in the form of subjective probability questions, and the choice data of proposers ("dictators") in a dictator game to estimate a structural model of decision making under uncertainty. We use a large and representative sample of subjects drawn from the Dutch population. Our results indicate that there is considerable heterogeneity in preferences for equity in the population. Changes in preferences have an important impact on decisions of dictators in the dictator game and responders in the ultimatum game, but a smaller impact on decisions of proposers in the ultimatum game, a result due to proposer’s subjective expectations about responders’ decisions. The model which uses subjective data on expectations has better predictive power and lower noise level than a model which assumes that players have rational expectations. |
| Keywords: | ultimatum game, inequity aversion, subjective expectations |
| JEL: | C93 D63 D84 |
| Date: | 2005–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp1666&r=soc |
| By: | Fernado Aguiar (IESA/CSIC); Pablo Brañas-Garza (Department of Economic Theory and Economic History, University of Granada) |
| Abstract: | Over the last two decades there has been a complex debate about the nature and limits of the consequentialism. Using these ideas this paper revises giving (altruism) in experimental dicatator games. We use results from several experimental papers plus an experiment ad-hoc designed to motivate altruism. |
| Keywords: | dictator game, fairness, consequentialism |
| JEL: | D63 D64 C91 |
| Date: | 2005–07–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gra:wpaper:05/17&r=soc |
| By: | Christopher J. Ruhm (University of North Carolina at Greensboro, NBER and IZA Bonn) |
| Abstract: | This study investigates how maternal employment is related to the outcomes of 10 and 11 year olds, controlling for a wide variety of child, mother and family characteristics. The results suggest that limited amounts of work by mothers benefit youths who are relatively "disadvantaged" and even long hours, which occur relatively rarely, are unlikely to leave them much worse off. By contrast, maternal labor supply is estimated to have much more harmful effects on "advantaged" adolescents. Particularly striking are the reductions in cognitive test scores and increases in excess body weight predicted by even moderate amounts of employment. The negative cognitive effects occur partly because maternal labor supply reduces the time these children spend in enriching home environments. Some of the growth in obesity may be related to determinants of excess weight that are common to the child and mother. Work hours are also associated with relatively large (in percentage terms) increases in early substance use and small decreases in behavior problems; however, neither are statistically significant. |
| Keywords: | maternal employment, adolescent development, child obesity, socioeconomic status |
| JEL: | I20 J13 J18 J22 |
| Date: | 2005–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp1673&r=soc |