In this issue we feature 6 current papers on the theme of social capital:

Access to full contents may be restricted. To subscribe/unsubscribe follow this link: http://lists.repec.org/mailman/options.

In this issue we have:

1. The Diffusion of Academic Achievements: Social Selection and Influence in Student Networks - Sofia Dokuka; Diliara Valeeva; Maria Yudkevich
2. Incentive Contracts for Teams: Experimental Evidence - Landeo, Claudia; Spier, Kathryn
3. Social Entrepreneurship - Social Impact Measurement for Social Enterprises - Antonella Noya
4. Internet use and subjective well-being in China - Nie, Peng; Nimrod, Galit; Sousa-Poza, Alfonso
5. An Experimental Study of Intergenerational Altruism with Parent-Child Pairs - Hideo Akabayashi; Akiko Kamesaka; Ryosuke Nakamura; Masao Ogaki; Teruyuki Tamura
6. Contribution, Social networking, and the Request for Adminship process in Wikipedia - Romain Picot Clemente; Cécile Bothorel; Nicolas Jullien

1. The Diffusion of Academic Achievements: Social Selection and Influence in

    Student Networks

   Sofia Dokuka (National Research University Higher School of Economics)

   Diliara Valeeva (National Research University Higher School of Economics)

   Maria Yudkevich (National Research University Higher School of Economics)  Peer group effects show the influence of student social environments on their  individual achievements. Traditionally, a social environment is considered by  researchers of peer effects as exogenously given. However, significant peers  that affect performance are often those that are deliberately chosen.

 Students might choose their friends among peers with similar academic  achievements. A dynamic analysis of student social networks and academic  achievements is needed to disentangle social selection and social influence  processes in network formation. Using data about the friendship and advice  networks of first year undergraduate students, we show that friends tend to  assimilate each others’ achievements and choose advisers with similar grades.

 We explain these results by social segregation based on student performance.

 The article contributes to the dynamic analysis of student social networks  and the understanding of the nature of peer group effects in education

   Keywords: social networks, academic achievements, peer group effects,

    higher education

   JEL: D85 I21 I23

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:65/soc/2015&r=soc

2. Incentive Contracts for Teams: Experimental Evidence

   Landeo, Claudia (University of Alberta, Department of Economics)

   Spier, Kathryn (Harvard Law School)

 This paper reports the results of an experiment on incentive contracts for  teams. The agents, whose efforts are complementary, are rewarded according to  a sharing rule chosen by the principal. Depending on the sharing rule, the  agents confront endogenous prisoner's dilemma or stag-hunt environments. Our  main findings are as follows. First, we demonstrate that ongoing interaction  among team members positively affects the principal's payoff . Greater team  cooperation is successfully induced with less generous sharing rules in  infinitely-repeated environments. Second, we provide evidence of the positive  effects of communication on team cooperation in the absence of ongoing team  interaction. Fostering communication among team members does not  significantly affect the principal's payoff , suggesting that agents'

 communication is an imperfect substitute for ongoing team interaction. Third,  we show that offering low sharing rules can back re. The agents are willing  to engage in costly punishment (shirking) as retaliation for low offers from  the principal. Our findings suggest that offering low sharing rules is  perceived by the agents as unkind behavior and hence, triggers negative  reciprocity.

   Keywords: Moral Hazard in Teams; Prisoners Dilemma; Stag-Hunt Games;

    Infinitely-Repeated Games; Communication; Reciprocity; Laboratory

    Experiments

   JEL: C72 C90 D86 K10 L23

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:albaec:2015_009&r=soc

3. Social Entrepreneurship - Social Impact Measurement for Social Enterprises

   Antonella Noya

 This policy paper on social impact measurement for social enterprises was  produced by the OECD and the European Commission. It presents the issues and  ongoing debates surrounding social impact measurement and provides concrete  examples of measurement methods. It highlights the concept of proportional  measurement, in other words balancing up the costs and benefits of the  measuring process. The policy brief also looks at guidance and resources for  use by social enterprises and how to create a more widespread culture of  measurement among stakeholders despite their often limited human and  financial resources.

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:cfeaac:10-en&r=soc

4. Internet use and subjective well-being in China

   Nie, Peng

   Nimrod, Galit

   Sousa-Poza, Alfonso

 Using data from the 2010 China Family Panel Studies, we analyze the  association between Internet use and various measures of subjective  well-being (SWB) in a sample of 16- to 60- year-old Chinese. Our analysis  shows that although intensive Internet use is significantly associated with  lower levels of SWB, we hardly observe any associations when the focus is on  participation in specific online activities. Nevertheless, SWB depends on  perceptions of Internet use; that is, the importance that different  individuals ascribe to different purposes for using the Internet and how much  they believe that their Internet use is displacing other activities. Our  results suggest that, contrary to previous findings, differences in  beneficial outcomes (the third level digital divide) do not necessarily arise  from individuals' actual Internet use (the second level digital divide) but  rather may result from their subjective perceptions of such usage. Our  findings also point to a possible cultural factor that puts Chinese Internet  users at psychological risk.

   Keywords: China,digital divides,depression,happiness,Internet use,life

    satisfaction

   JEL: I10 D10 J10 Q53

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:hohdps:072015&r=soc

5. An Experimental Study of Intergenerational Altruism with Parent-Child Pairs

   Hideo Akabayashi (Faculty of Economics, Keio University)

   Akiko Kamesaka (School of Business Administration, Aoyama Gakuin University)

   Ryosuke Nakamura (Graduate School of Economics, Hitotsubashi University)

   Masao Ogaki (Faculty of Economics, Keio University)

   Teruyuki Tamura (Graduate School of Economics, Sophia University)  In the standard intergenerational altruism model in which the child's utility  level is an argument in the parent's utility function, there are no conflicts  of interests between the parent and the child if they need to reach an  agreement about the amount and the timing of a present that child receives  from a third party. On the other hand, in the intergenerational altruism  models of cultural transmission of preferences, this may not be true. This  difference in two classes of the models can be used to distinguish between  them in experiments. We conducted a time preference experiment to compare  individual and joint decision makings with parent-child pairs in which (1)the  child alone, (2) the parent alone, and (3) the parent-child pair as a group  make decisions about the amount and the timing of the payment to the child.

 The experimental results are not consistent with the standard  intergenerational altruism model but consistent with models of cultural  transmission of preferences.

   Keywords: intergenerational altruism, model of cultural transmission of

    preferences, time preference experiment, individual and joint decisions

   JEL: C93 D14 E2

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:keo:dpaper:2014-005&r=soc

6. Contribution, Social networking, and the Request for Adminship process in

    Wikipedia

   Romain Picot Clemente (Lab-STICC_TB_CID_DECIDE - Lab-STICC - Laboratoire

    des sciences et techniques de l'information, de la communication et de la

    connaissance - Ecole nationale d'ingénieurs de Brest - UEB - Université

    européenne de Bretagne - Institut Mines-Télécom - ENSTA Bretagne - Institut

    Supérieur des Sciences et Technologies de Brest (ISSTB) - Télécom Bretagne

    - UBS - Université de Bretagne Sud - UBO - Université de Bretagne

    Occidentale - CNRS, LUSSI - Département Logique des Usages, Sciences

    sociales et Sciences de l'Information - UEB - Université européenne de

    Bretagne - Télécom Bretagne - Institut Mines-Télécom)

   Cécile Bothorel (Lab-STICC_TB_CID_DECIDE - Lab-STICC - Laboratoire des

    sciences et techniques de l'information, de la communication et de la

    connaissance - Ecole nationale d'ingénieurs de Brest - UEB - Université

    européenne de Bretagne - Institut Mines-Télécom - ENSTA Bretagne - Institut

    Supérieur des Sciences et Technologies de Brest (ISSTB) - Télécom Bretagne

    - UBS - Université de Bretagne Sud - UBO - Université de Bretagne

    Occidentale - CNRS, LUSSI - Département Logique des Usages, Sciences

    sociales et Sciences de l'Information - UEB - Université européenne de

    Bretagne - Télécom Bretagne - Institut Mines-Télécom)

   Nicolas Jullien (LUSSI - Département Logique des Usages, Sciences sociales

    et Sciences de l'Information - UEB - Université européenne de Bretagne -

    Télécom Bretagne - Institut Mines-Télécom, MARSOUIN - Môle Armoricain de

    Recherche sur la SOciété de l'information et des usages d'INternet - UR1 -

    Université de Rennes 1 - UEB - Université européenne de Bretagne - UBS -

    Université de Bretagne Sud - UBO - Université de Bretagne Occidentale -

    Télécom Bretagne - Ecole Nationale de la Statistique et de Analyse de

    l'Information - Rennes - Institut Mines-Télécom - Université de Rennes II -

    Haute Bretagne, ICI - Laboratoire Information, Coordination, Incitations -

    UEB - Université européenne de Bretagne - UBO - Université de Bretagne

    Occidentale - Télécom Bretagne - Institut des Sciences de l'Homme et de la

    Société - ISHS - Institut Mines-Télécom)  In epistemic communities, people are said to be selected on their  contribution in knowledge to the project (articles, codes, etc.). However,  the socialization process is an important factor for inclusion,  sustainability as a contributor, and promotion. Finally, what matters for  being promoted? Being a good contributor? Being a good animator? Knowing the  boss? We explore this question by looking at the election process for  administrators in the English Wikipedia. We used the candidates' revisions  and/or social attributes to construct a predictive model of promotion  success, based on the candidates' past behavior and a random forest  algorithm. Our model explains 78% of the results, which is better than the  former models. It also helps to refine the explanation of the election  process.

   Keywords: Promotion,Epistemic Community, Random forest, Wikipedia, Request

    for adminship

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-01192597&r=soc

This nep-soc issue comes without any express or implied warranty. You may contact the editor by reply to this mail.

General information on the NEP project can be found at http://nep.repec.org.

For comments please write to the director of NEP, Marco Novarese at < director @ nep point repec point org >.