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on Social Norms and Social Capital |
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Issue of 2024–12–09
seven papers chosen by Fabio Sabatini, Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza” |
| By: | Ruben Enikolopov; Maria Petrova; Gianluca Russo; David Yanagizawa-Drott |
| Abstract: | We examine the long-run effect of homophily in online social networks on interpersonal interactions in local communities. We measure online homophily across counties in the US using Facebook data. For identification, we exploit a conflict between Facebook and Google over data sharing of user information during the early expansion phase of Facebook. We find evidence that homophilic connections led to increased social media usage but reduced offline socialization. This shift was accompanied by deterioration of local social cohesion, as individuals became less connected across income strata and less likely to share the same political opinions with others in their counties. |
| Keywords: | social media, networks, homophily, social capital |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11375 |
| By: | Ronak Jain; Vatsal Khandelwal |
| Abstract: | Inaccurate beliefs about social norms can reduce useful social interactions and adversely affect an individual’s ability to deal with negative shocks. We implement a randomized controlled trial with low-income workers in urban India who lack access to formal financial and healthcare support. We find that the majority of individuals underestimate their community’s willingness to engage in dialogue around financial and mental health concerns. Belief correction leads to a large increase in the demand for network-based assistance. We show that the effects are driven by a reduction in the perceived costs of violating social norms arising due to concerns around reputation and insensitivity. We structurally estimate a network diffusion model and predict that our belief correction intervention will not lead to a shift in equilibrium engagement. Consistent with this, 2 years later, we find that the average beliefs of those exposed to the intervention are significantly more optimistic but still lower than the information delivered in the experiment. We compute the strength of counterfactual interventions needed to generate a sustained effect and find that belief correction can be used to generate both the demand and funding for such policies. |
| Keywords: | Social networks; social norms; beliefs; risk sharing; Mental health |
| JEL: | C93 D83 D91 I12 I31 Z13 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csa:wpaper:2024-06 |
| By: | Shanker, Ankit; Vlaev, Ivo |
| Abstract: | Abstract This study examines the impact of social versus algorithmic corrections of vaccine misinformation on social media, on the perceptions of social norms around vaccination and vaccine intentions during a hypothetical pandemic. In an online experiment with 720 participants, we assessed whether user-generated or algorithmically generated corrections influenced perception of social norms measured as beliefs about other’s vaccination intentions (empirical expectations about vaccination), perception about the social appropriateness of vaccine refusal (normative expectations), and beliefs about others' perceptions of vaccine safety (second-order normative beliefs), and own vaccine intentions. User-generated corrections significantly increased the perceptions that refusing vaccination is socially very inappropriate and increased the perception that consensus is in support of vaccine safety. Algorithmic corrections did not influence social norm perceptions. Interestingly, neither social nor algorithmic corrections significantly altered empirical expectations about others' vaccination intentions. Both corrections also helped maintain participants' high initial vaccine intentions with algorithmic correction having stronger effects, in contrast to a significant decline in intentions observed in the control group exposed to misinformation without corrections. Algorithmic corrections from credible health agencies were effective in sustaining vaccine intentions, while user-generated corrections were more influential in improving perceptions of social norms. The study suggests that different correction types influence distinct determinants of vaccination behaviour: user-generated corrections reshape perceived social norms, while algorithmic corrections, citing credible sources, may better sustain high vaccine intentions. Keywords: Misinformation Corrections, Perceived Social Norms, Vaccine Intentions, Vaccine Misinformation, Social Corrections, Algorithmic Correction. |
| Date: | 2024–10–28 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:ahq26 |
| By: | Rivera, Eduardo (MIT); Seira, Enrique (MSU); Jha, Saumitra (Stanford U) |
| Abstract: | Democratic values are eroding just as citizens perceive increasing corruption, with numerous cases implicating the highest-level politicians. Could perceived increases in apex corruption be weakening democracy? We first present event study analyses of more than 170 high-profile corruption scandals involving some of the most prominent politicians in 17 Latin American countries. We show that in the aftermath of such apex corruption scandals, support for democracy falls by 0.07ð ‘ ð ‘‘, support for authoritarianism rises by 11% and violent protests rise by 70%. We complement these results with a field experiment in Mexico. Randomized exposure to footage of apex corruption scandals, particularly implicating politicians known for their anticorruption platforms, decreases individuals’ support for democracy by 0.15ð ‘ ð ‘‘, willingness to trust politicians and neighbors in incentivized games by 18% and 11%, volunteering as election observers by 45%, and actual voter turnout by about 5ð ‘ ð ‘ , while raising stealing from local mayors by 4%. The undermining of democratic values produces latent effects that even cumulate four months later. Seeking solutions, priming national identity proved an unsuccessful antidote, but providing exposure to national stock index funds holds some promise. |
| JEL: | C72 C93 D02 D72 D73 D91 K42 |
| Date: | 2024–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecl:stabus:4166 |
| By: | Yi Wu; Kusum Mundra |
| Abstract: | Immigrant homeownership is an important factor for immigrant’s integration and assimilation for any large immigrant receiving country and there is increasing evidence on the role of social capital on housing outcomes as well as other financial well-being of immigrant groups. This paper uses detail and rich UK data from the Household Longitudinal Study (UKLS) to first, measure social capital in various dimensions using rich micro level data from the UK and then further identify the channels through which networks operate for immigrant groups and the strength of these networks. Second, this paper looks at what is the role of social capital on immigrant homeownership in the UK. We found that immigrants weak ties, proportion of close friends, plays strong role in financial support for the immigrants. |
| Keywords: | Financial help; Homeownership; Social Capital; UK immigrants |
| JEL: | R3 |
| Date: | 2024–01–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arz:wpaper:eres2024-238 |
| By: | Minh Tam Bui (Faculty of Economics, Srinakharinwirot University, THAILAND); Ivo Vlaev (Warwick Business School, University of Warwick, UK); Katsushi Imai (Department of Economics, The University of Manchester, UK and Research Institute for Economics and Business Administration, Kobe University, JAPAN) |
| Abstract: | Ageing society poses an increasing need for elderly care and the essential role of unpaid family care in developing countries where more care burdens are imposed on women. Literature on the driver of gender care gap is limited and its association with social gender norms is both understudied and hardly measured/quantified. Using time-use data in 2014-15 and Labor Force Survey data in 2013-15 from Thailand, we first construct an altruistic time ratio for the whole sample to measure the extent to which individuals spend time on unpaid activities for others than themselves. We found that significant gender gaps in providing eldercare are associated with gender differences in altruistic time ratio. To consider the non-random selection for the elderly care, we then estimate the Tobit model with propensity score matching (PSM) for both elderly carers and non-carers and found that the social gender norm, defined as the district-level gender difference in the modes of altruistic time ratio, explains why women are more burdened with elderly care than men. To examine the underlying mechanisms behind women's time burden, we estimate a simultaneous equation Tobit consisting of elderly care time, leisure time, and time for paid work. The results show that the social gender norm indirectly reduces elderly care time for women by significantly reducing leisure time and paid work time, while the direct effect is dominant for men. The trade-off between paid work time and elderly care time is similar for men and for women, while that between leisure time and elderly care time is greater for men. Associations between elderly care and altruism or peer pressure imply that behavioural changes with a focus on social norms and social policies inducing such changes are important to achieve more gender-equitable eldercare provision besides the state provision of long-term care. |
| Keywords: | Unpaid work; Time use; Elder care; Gender gaps; Altruism; Behavioral change |
| JEL: | D13 D64 D9 J14 J16 J22 |
| Date: | 2024–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kob:dpaper:dp2024-37 |
| By: | Jia, Qifan; Zhou, Sizhe; Liu, Run; Zuo, Yihan; Pan, Cuiyu; Chen, Yu |
| Abstract: | Buying domestic products has become increasingly important in many countries. As a form of social influence, social norms affect people’s domestic purchasing intentions and behavior. The current study aims to examine the mechanisms by which social norms influence domestic purchasing intentions through the lens of consumer ethnocentrism and domestic product judgments. The data were collected through an online survey in China, and a total of 346 valid responses were obtained. The results indicate that social norms influence domestic purchasing intention through four paths, namely, direct path, motivational path, cognitive path, and motivational–cognitive path. Consumer ethnocentrism and domestic product judgments, serving as the motivational and cognitive factors, respectively, play mediating and serial mediating roles in the relationship between social norms and domestic purchasing intention. In addition, consumer ethnocentrism has two dimensions, namely, pro-domestic and anti-foreign consumer ethnocentrism, and only the former plays a significant role in the model. The current study has theoretical contributions to research on domestic purchasing intention and practical implications for interventions in domestic purchasing behavior. Future studies are encouraged to conduct experiments, distinguish between different types of social norms, measure purchasing behavior, and verify the relationships in other countries. |
| Keywords: | China; consumer ethnocentrism; domestic product judgments; domestic purchasing intention; social norms |
| JEL: | D12 Z13 |
| Date: | 2023–05–31 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:125881 |