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on Social Norms and Social Capital |
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Issue of 2019‒12‒16
nine papers chosen by Fabio Sabatini Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza” |
| By: | Stuart, Bryan (George Washington University); Taylor, Evan J. (University of Chicago) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies how birth town migration networks affected long-run location decisions during historical U.S. migration episodes. We develop a new method to estimate the strength of migration networks for each receiving and sending location. Our estimates imply that when one randomly chosen African American moved from a Southern birth town to a destination county, then 1.9 additional black migrants made the same move on average. For white migrants from the Great Plains, the average is only 0.4. Networks were particularly important in connecting black migrants with attractive employment opportunities and played a larger role in less costly moves. |
| Keywords: | migration networks, location decisions, social interactions, Great Migration |
| JEL: | J61 N32 O15 R23 Z13 |
| Date: | 2019–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp12709&r=all |
| By: | Christina Nicolas (LAPE - Laboratoire d'Analyse et de Prospective Economique - IR SHS UNILIM - Institut Sciences de l'Homme et de la Société - UNILIM - Université de Limoges); Amine Tarazi (LAPE - Laboratoire d'Analyse et de Prospective Economique - IR SHS UNILIM - Institut Sciences de l'Homme et de la Société - UNILIM - Université de Limoges) |
| Abstract: | Please do not quote without the permission of the authors. Abstract This paper examines the effect of trust on bank lending using a sample of commercial banks in 34 countries around the world. We distinguish between two forms of trust: In-group trust, which we define as the trust in people we know, and Out-group trust, which we define as the trust in people we meet for the first time. We find that that Out-group trust significantly boosts bank lending. A closer look shows that this effect only holds in countries with relatively lower levels of institutional and judicial development. As for In-group trust, we find that it affects bank lending indirectly by favoring the development of informal lending. Overall, this paper provides novel evidence on the importance of trust and the mechanisms by which it influences bank lending around the world. JEL classification: G21, G28, G32 |
| Keywords: | Bank Lending,Trust,Institutional Development |
| Date: | 2019–11–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-02384495&r=all |
| By: | Amuedo-Dorantes, Catalina (University of California, Merced); Arenas-Arroyo, Esther (Vienna University of Economics and Business) |
| Abstract: | Domestic violence is a serious under-reported crime in the United States, especially among immigrant women. While the Violence against Women Act (VAWA) allows battered immigrants to petition for legal status without relying on abusive U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident spouses, we find that intensified interior immigration enforcement has curbed the VAWA self-petition rate. In contrast, sanctuary policies limiting the cooperation of police with immigration authorities have helped counteract that impact. The results, which prove robust to alternative measures of the policies, support the hypothesized changes in victims' reporting in response to the policies. Understanding survivors' responses to immigration policy is crucial given growing police mistrust and vulnerability to crime among immigrants. |
| Keywords: | immigration enforcement, trust acts, domestic violence, United States |
| JEL: | J12 J16 J15 K37 |
| Date: | 2019–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp12721&r=all |
| By: | Sauer, Robert M. (Royal Holloway, University of London); Wilson, John (Duke University); Mantovan, Noemi (Bangor University) |
| Abstract: | A theory that the economic benefits of volunteering are contingent on social class (as defined by similarities in labour market situation) is tested using seven waves of longitudinal data from the British Household Panel Study gathered between 1996 and 2008 and fixed-effects models. Volunteering has a positive effect on earnings, but it is confined to people in professional and managerial occupations. Employees in white and blue collar jobs do not benefit. The study suggests that inconsistent results from previous studies might be due to failure to consider occupational heterogeneity among volunteers. |
| Keywords: | volunteering, earnings, social class |
| JEL: | H4 J31 |
| Date: | 2019–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp12713&r=all |
| By: | Alexander James; John List; James Murphy; Michael Price |
| Abstract: | Recent research suggests that warm glow is a key driver of individual donation decisions. We make use of a unique opportunity to partner with Alaska's Pick.Click.Give. Charitable Contributions Program to explore whether appealing to one aspect of donor benefits, feeling good about self, impacts donations. We randomly allocated the nearly 300,000 households (540,000 individuals) who registered to receive their annual dividend online into one of three experimental groups. We observe more than 26,000 donors giving aggregate donations exceeding $3 million in our experiment. Consonant with the warm glow model, empirical results highlight the relative import of appeals to self: individuals who received such an appeal were approximately 4.5 percent more likely to give and gave 20 percent more than counterparts in the control group. Yet, average donations from the group that received a message appealing to recipient benefits were no different than the control group. Tracking these individuals through the next campaign year, we also find long-run effects: contributions to the Pick.Click.Give. program in the subsequent year continued to be higher in the appeal-to-self group. Our results have import for theoreticians and empiricists interested in modeling charitable giving as well as practitioners and policymakers. |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:feb:natura:00682&r=all |
| By: | Bernt Bratsberg (Frisch Centre for Economic Research); Jeremy Ferwerda (Dartmouth College); Henning Finseraas (Institute for Social Research); Andreas Kotsadam (Frisch Centre for Economic Research) |
| Abstract: | To what extent do early experiences in the host country shape the political integration of immigrants? We argue that the initial neighborhoods immigrants settle in establish patterns of behavior that influence subsequent political participation. Using Norwegian administrative register data, we leverage quasi-exogenous variation in the placement of refugees to assess the consequences of assignment to particular neighborhoods. We find that the di erence in turnout between refugees initially placed in 20th and 80th percentile neighborhoods is 12.6 percentage points, which represents 47 percent of the participation gap between refugees and residents. To assess the mechanism, we draw on individual level data on all neighbors present at the time of each refugees' arrival, and evaluate the relative impact of neighborhood characteristics and available social networks. Our findings suggest that while neighborhood socioeconomic factors play a limited role, early exposure to politically engaged neighbors and peer cohort increases immigrants' turnout over the long run. |
| Keywords: | Voter turnout, minorities, immigration, social networks, Western Europe |
| Date: | 2019–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:1918&r=all |
| By: | Zanella, Giulio (University of Adelaide); Bellani, Marina M. |
| Abstract: | Common measures of cultural attitudes, such as those constructed from the World Values Survey, are characterized by substantial within-country volatility. This volatility is at odds with the notion of culture adopted in economics: a set of slow-moving traits that determine preferences and expectations transmitted from one generation to the next via family or social interactions. The insufficient persistence of survey proxies for such traits may compromise empirical studies of culture as a determinant of economic outcomes. We illustrate this point via a thorough replication, using the most recent WVS waves, of analyses carried out previously for regions in Europe. |
| Keywords: | World Values Survey, culture, development |
| JEL: | O12 O43 Z1 |
| Date: | 2019–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp12730&r=all |
| By: | Ndubuisi, Gideon |
| Abstract: | This paper contributes to the literature on the innovation effect of social trust by analyzing the mechanisms linking social trust and R&D Investments. High social trust level can ease firms’ credit constraints by reducing moral hazards and information asymmetries problems which make raising external capital difficult and expensive for firms. It can also reduce relational risks that expose firms to ex-post holdup or outright intellectual property expropriation. Using data from 20 OECD countries, I test these mechanisms by evaluating whether more external finance dependent and relational risks vulnerable sectors exhibit disproportional higher R&D investments in countries with high social trust level. The empirical results confirm that high social trust level encourages investments in R&D. Importantly, the results indicate that sectors which depend more on external finance and those sectors that are more vulnerable to relational risks experience a relatively greater increase in R&D investments in countries with high social trust. The results underline access to external credit and reduction in relational risks as causal pathways linking social trust and R&D investment. |
| Keywords: | Social Trust, Innovation; R&D Investments; Relational Risks; Credit Constraints |
| JEL: | A13 O17 O31 O43 |
| Date: | 2019–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:97043&r=all |
| By: | Iqbal, Muhammad Nelza Mulki (Indonesia Institute of Technology) |
| Abstract: | Social capital discourse has come to be the foremost and essential aspects in achieving sustainable development, participatory democracy and just cities. Indonesia is like most Asian countries where people spatially and socially co-live in a community that is related to a network of small clusters. However, the formal study related to social capital is hardly founded. Based on its characters, Gotong Royong which is a socio-cultural ethic of the togetherness philosophy in Indonesia can be perceived as an Indonesian social capital practice. Advancing social capital through participatory approaches will need a deep consideration about the role of professional and community engagement. Successful collaborations between wider actors in participatory approaches could lead to a fundamental transformation that can both preserve and nurture social capital values. High level of social capital within communities can potentially underpin the successful community participation towards communal goals. |
| Date: | 2017–12–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:inarxi:q4xej&r=all |