In this issue we feature 7 current papers on the theme of social capital:

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1. From Extreme to Mainstream: How Social Norms Unravel - Leonardo Bursztyn; Georgy Egorov; Stefano Fiorin
2. Sun, Regulation and Local Social Networks - Antoine Bonleu
3. Building bridges or deepening divides: Resources and formal volunteering in post-apartheid South Africa - Dineo Seabe; Ronelle Burger
4. Friendship network composition and subjective wellbeing Awaworyi Churchill, Sefa; Smyth, Russell
5. Social Interactions, Mechanisms, and Equilibrium: Evidence From a Model of Study Time and Academic Achievement - Tim Conley; Nirav Mehta; Todd Stinebrickner; Ralph Stinebrickner
6. The spillover effects of gender quotas on dishonesty - Valeria Maggian; Natalia Montinari
7. Pocketbook Voting, Social Preferences, and Expressive Motives in Referenda - Meya, Johannes; Poutvaara, Panu; Schwager, Robert

1. From Extreme to Mainstream: How Social Norms Unravel

   Leonardo Bursztyn

   Georgy Egorov

   Stefano Fiorin

 Social norms are typically thought to be persistent and long-lasting,  sometimes surviving through growth, recessions, and regime changes. In some  cases, however, they can quickly change. This paper examines the unraveling  of social norms in communication when new information becomes available,  e.g., aggregated through elections. We build a model of strategic  communication between citizens who can hold one of two mutually exclusive  opinions. In our model, agents communicate their opinions to each other, and  senders care about receivers' approval. As a result, senders are more likely  to express the more popular opinion, while receivers make less inference  about senders who stated the popular view. We test these predictions using  two experiments. In the main experiment, we identify the causal effect of  Donald Trump's rise in political popularity on individuals' willingness to  publicly express xenophobic views. Participants in the experiment are offered  a bonus reward if they authorize researchers to make a donation to an  anti-immigration organization on their behalf. Participants who expect their  decision to be observed by the surveyor are significantly less likely to  accept the offer than those expecting an anonymous choice. Increases in  participants' perceptions of Trump's popularity (either through experimental  variation or through the “natural experiment” of his victory) eliminate the  wedge between private and public behavior. A second experiment uses dictator  games to show that participants judge a person less negatively for publicly  expressing (but not for privately holding) a political view they disagree  with if that person's social environment is one where the majority of people  holds that view.

   JEL: C90 D03 D72 D83 P16 Z10

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:23415&r=soc

2. Sun, Regulation and Local Social Networks

   Antoine Bonleu (GREQAM - Groupement de Recherche en Économie Quantitative

    d'Aix-Marseille - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - ECM

    - Ecole Centrale de Marseille - AMU - Aix Marseille Université - EHESS -

    École des hautes études en sciences sociales)  The aim of this paper is to explain over-regulation and local social capital  as barriers to immigration. The interest of social networks is that conflict  resolution is independent of the law. Hence, if local individuals develop  local social capital and regulation, foreigners without social networks are  disadvantaged and can less easily migrate. We develop a two-country  search-theoretic model where we endogenize the choice of procedural formalism

 (PF) and the network size. This model features two different equilibria: a  Mediterranean equilibrium with PF and dense local social network and a  Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon equilibrium without PF and local social networks.

   Keywords: housing market regulation,mobility,local social capital,climate amenities,social networks

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-01502604&r=soc

3. Building bridges or deepening divides: Resources and formal volunteering in post-apartheid South Africa

   Dineo Seabe (Dept of Applied Economics, Vrije Univeriteit Brussels)

   Ronelle Burger (Dept. Economics, Stellenbosch University)  This study investigates volunteering in a highly unequal society. It uses  post-apartheid South Africa as a case study: the enduring apartheid legacy  has left deep divides between classes and races in the country. The research  asks if formal volunteering serves to enhance social cohesion or reinforces  such social divides. Logistic analysis is applied to the 2001 South African  World Values Survey, to measure the strength of the relationship between the  likelihood to volunteer, and selected human, social and cultural capital  variables. The analysis shows that volunteering tends to align with existing  social divides. Individuals are more likely to volunteer if they are educated  and affluent, supporting the dominant status theory. Prejudice and not  valuing sharing are also associated with a higher proclivity for  volunteering. Broadly, we find that the available evidence suggests that  volunteering is associated with bonding, rather than bridging, social  capital. Although hardly uncontentious, broad-based support for and  involvement in religious volunteering suggest that religious communities and  congregations could in the future provide a bridge to help heal the rifts if  links between such communities are strengthened.

   Keywords: Volunteering, human capital, social capital, ‘Ubuntu’, religiosity

   JEL: C51 D64 D71 L32

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sza:wpaper:wpapers279&r=soc

4. Friendship network composition and subjective wellbeing

   Awaworyi Churchill, Sefa

   Smyth, Russell

 Using data from the UK Community Life Survey, we present the first study to  examine the relationship between heterogeneity in one’s friendship network  and subjective wellbeing. We measure network heterogeneity by the extent to  which one’s friends are similar to oneself with regard to ethnicity and  religion. We find that people who have friendship networks with  characteristics dissimilar to themselves have lower levels of subjective  wellbeing. Specifically, our two-stage least squares (2SLS) estimates, using  measures of ethnic and religious diversity based on the Herfindahl-type  fractionalization index that are flipped between adjoining rural/urban areas  as instruments, suggest that a standard deviation increase in the proportion  of one’s friends from different ethnic (religious) groups is associated with  a decrease of 0.276 (0.451) standard deviations in subjective wellbeing.

   Keywords: friendship,heterogeneity,social capital,networks,wellbeing

   JEL: Z12 J15 I31

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:esprep:158003&r=soc

5. Social Interactions, Mechanisms, and Equilibrium: Evidence From a Model of Study Time and Academic Achievement

   Tim Conley (University of Western Ontario)

   Nirav Mehta (University of Western Ontario)

   Todd Stinebrickner (Western University)

   Ralph Stinebrickner (University of Western Ontario)  We develop and estimate a model of study time choices of students on a social  network. The model is designed to exploit unique data collected in the Berea  Panel Study. Study time data allow us to quantify an intuitive mechanism for  academic social interactions: own study time may depend on friend study time.

 Social network data allow study time choices and resulting academic  achievement to be embedded in an estimable equilibrium framework. New data on  study propensities allow us to directly address potential sorting into  friendships based on typically unobserved determinants of study time. We  develop a specifi cation test that exploits the equilibrium nature of social  interactions and use it to show that our study propensity measures  substantially address endogeneity concerns. We find friend study time  strongly affects own study time, and, therefore, student achievement. We  examine how network structure interacts with student characteristics to  affect academic achievement. Sorting on friend characteristics appears  important in explaining variation across students in study time and  achievement, and determines the aggregate achievement level.

   Keywords: social networks, peer effects, homophily, time-use

   JEL: H00 I20 J00

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hka:wpaper:2017-042&r=soc

6. The spillover effects of gender quotas on dishonesty

   Valeria Maggian (GATE Lyon Saint-Étienne - Groupe d'analyse et de théorie

    économique - ENS Lyon - École normale supérieure - Lyon - UL2 - Université

    Lumière - Lyon 2 - UCBL - Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 - UJM -

    Université Jean Monnet [Saint-Etienne] - Université de Lyon - CNRS - Centre

    National de la Recherche Scientifique)

   Natalia Montinari (Université de Bologne - UNIBO - Università di Bologna [Bologna])

 We experimentally test for spillover effects of gender quotas on subsequent  unrelated, unethical behavior. We find that introducing quotas has no  systematic effect on unethical behavior for both genders. High performing,  competitive females are more likely to display unethical behavior than their  male counterparts.

   Keywords: Affirmative action, spillover effects, unethical behavior, competition, laboratory experiments

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-01511175&r=soc

7. Pocketbook Voting, Social Preferences, and Expressive Motives in Referenda

   Meya, Johannes

   Poutvaara, Panu

   Schwager, Robert

 We develop and test a theory of voting and turnout decisions that integrates  self-interest, social preferences, and expressive motives. Our model implies  that if pocketbook benefits are relevant, voters either perceive their impact  on the outcome to be non-negligible, or expressive motivations do not play a  role in the decision on how to vote. Conversely, if own pocketbook benefits  do not explain voting, then voting is expressive. If the perceived  probability of being pivotal is non-negligible, social preferences and  expressive concerns are observationally equivalent. Our empirical analysis  studies collective choices which are analogous to decisions on local public  goods. We consider referenda among university students on whether to  collectively purchase deeply discounted flat rate tickets for public  transportation and cultural amenities. Individual usage data allow  quantifying the monetary benefits associated with each ticket. As voters had  precise information on the individual costs and benefits, our setting  comprises a real-world laboratory of direct democracy. We find that monetary  benefits strongly influence participation and voting. However, social or  expressive motives, such as stated altruism, environmental concerns, and  paternalism, are decisive for a significant minority. Our results rule out  purely expressive voting and imply that a substantial share of the electorate  perceived their impact on the outcome to be non-negligible.

   Keywords: pocketbook voting; social preferences; expressive voting; instrumental voting; public goods; altruism; referendum

   JEL: D72 H41 D64

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lmu:muenec:38425&r=soc

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