In this issue we feature 11 current papers on the theme of social capital:

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In this issue we have:

1. Conflict and Networks - Marcin Dziubinski; Sanjeev Goyal; Adrien Vigier;
2. Online Networks, Social Interaction and Segregation: An Evolutionary Approach - Angelo Antoci; Fabio Sabatini; Francesco Sarracino
3. Racial Sorting and the Emergence of Segregation in American Cities - Allison Shertzer; Randall P. Walsh
4. Early Marriage, Social Networks and the Transmission of Norms - Niaz Asadullah; Zaki Wahhaj
5. Cultural Leaders and the Dynamics of Assimilation - Verdier, Thierry; Zenou, Yves
6. Intra-household Resource Allocation and Familial Ties - Harounan Kazianga; Zaki Wahhaj
7. Networks in the laboratory - Syngjoo Choi; Edoardo Gallo; Shachar Kariv;
8. Collective Efficacy of a Regional Network: Extending the Social Embeddedness Perspective of Entrepreneurship - Muhammad, Nabeel; Léo-Paul, Dana
9. Cooperating over losses and competing over gains: a social dilemma experiment - Ispano, Alessandro; Schwardmann, Peter

1. Conflict and Networks

   Marcin Dziubinski

   Sanjeev Goyal

   Adrien Vigier

 Conflict remains a central element in human interaction. Networks - social,  economic and infrastructure - are a defining feature of society. The two  intersect in a wide range of empirical contexts. This motivates the recent  interest in conflict and networks.The aim of the survey is to present the  general themes, provide a survey of then ascent research and point to a  number of interesting open questions.

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cam:camdae:1565&r=soc

2. Online Networks, Social Interaction and Segregation: An Evolutionary Approach

   Angelo Antoci

   Fabio Sabatini

   Francesco Sarracino

 We have developed an evolutionary game model, where agents can choose between  two forms of social participation: interaction via online social networks and  interaction by exclusive means of face-to-face encounters. We illustrate the  societal dynamics that the model predicts, in light of the empirical evidence  provided by previous literature. We then assess their welfare implications.

 We show that dynamics, starting from a world in which online social  interaction is less gratifying than offline encounters, will lead to the  extinction of the sub-population of online networks users, thereby making  Facebook and alike disappear in the long run. Furthermore, we show that the  higher the propensity for discrimination between the two sub-populations of  socially active individuals, the greater the probability that individuals  will ultimately segregate themselves, making society fall into a social  poverty trap.

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:1603.05828&r=soc

3. Racial Sorting and the Emergence of Segregation in American Cities

   Allison Shertzer

   Randall P. Walsh

 Residential segregation by race grew sharply in the United States as black  migrants from the South arrived in northern cities during the early twentieth  century. The existing literature emphasizes discriminatory institutions as  the driving force behind this rapid rise in segregation. Using newly  assembled neighborhood-level data, we instead focus on the role of “flight” by whites, providing the first systematic evidence of the role that prewar  population dynamics played in the emergence of the American ghetto.

 Leveraging exogenous changes in neighborhood racial composition, we show that  white departures in response to black arrivals were quantitatively large and  accelerated between 1900 and 1930. Our preferred estimates suggest that white  flight was responsible for 34 percent of the increase in segregation over the  1910s and 50 percent over the 1920s. Our analysis suggests that segregation  would likely have arisen in American cities even without the presence of  discriminatory institutions as a direct consequence of the widespread and  decentralized relocation decisions of white urban residents.

   JEL: J15 N32 R23

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:22077&r=soc

4. Early Marriage, Social Networks and the Transmission of Norms

   Niaz Asadullah

   Zaki Wahhaj

 We investigate whether female early marriage is a conduit for the  transmission of social norms, specifically norms relating to gender roles and  rights within the household. We exploit differences in the age of onset of  menarche between sisters as an exogenous source of variation in marriage age.

 This approach allows us to control for beliefs and attitudes that are  transmitted from parents to children. We find that early marriage increases  agreement with statements supportive of gender bias in the allocation of  resources and traditional gender roles. The woman's own schooling, her  husband's schooling, and her social network together account for, at most,  one-third of the estimated effect, suggesting that the major pathway for norm  transmission is the experience of early marriage itself.

   Keywords: Gender Roles, Social Norms, Schooling, Household Decision-Making

   JEL: J12 J16 Z10

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ukc:ukcedp:1602&r=soc

5. Cultural Leaders and the Dynamics of Assimilation

   Verdier, Thierry

   Zenou, Yves

 This paper studies the population dynamics of cultural traits in a model of  intergenerational cultural transmission with perfectly-forward looking  cultural leaders who compete for oblique socialization. When there is only  one leader, we show that there exists a threshold size in terms of population  above which the cultural leader becomes active. We then consider the  competition between two forward-looking leaders and characterize the  open-loop Nash equilibrium of this differential dynamic game. In terms of  policy implications, we show that the policymaker should take into account  the crucial interaction between the centralized transmission of cultural  traits by leaders and the decentralized transmission of these traits by  parents and peers and should differentiate between the short-term and  long-term effects of a policy due to over-reactions or under-reactions of the  different cultural groups.

   Keywords: cultural substituability; dynamic differential game.; forward-looking leaders; integration

   JEL: J13 J15 Z10

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:11174&r=soc

6. Intra-household Resource Allocation and Familial Ties

   Harounan Kazianga

   Zaki Wahhaj

 In this paper, we investigate the link between intra-household resource  allocation and familial ties between household members. We show that, within  the same geographic, economic and social environments, households where  members have 'stronger' familial ties (e.g. a nuclear family household)  achieve near Pareto efficient allocation of productive resources and Pareto  efficient allocation of consumption while households with 'weaker' familial  ties (e.g. an extended family household) do not. We propose a theoretical  model of the household based on the idea that altruism between household  members vary with familial ties which generates predictions consistent with  the observed empirical patterns.

   Keywords: Intra-household Allocation, Social Norms, Extended Families, Altruism, Household Farms, Income Shocks, Risk-sharing, Consumption Smoothing

   JEL: O12 D13 Q1

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ukc:ukcedp:1601&r=soc

7. Networks in the laboratory

   Syngjoo Choi

   Edoardo Gallo

   Shachar Kariv

 This chapter surveys experimental research on networks in economics. The  first part considers experiments on games played on networks. The second part  discusses experimental research on markets and networks. It concludes by  identifying important directions for future research.

   Keywords: experiments, social networks, network games, markets, coordination, public goods, cooperation, social learning, communication,

    trading.

   JEL: C91 C92 D85 L14 Z13

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cam:camdae:1551&r=soc

8. Collective Efficacy of a Regional Network: Extending the Social Embeddedness Perspective of Entrepreneurship

   Muhammad, Nabeel

   Léo-Paul, Dana

 Through participatory observation and in-depth interviews with members of the  Memon community, in Pakistan, this paper probes into how the collective  efforts of a regional network can facilitate entrepreneurship, social  enterprises and regional development. The setting is a developing country  that is lacking a large-scale entrepreneurial culture. Despite caste  differences, Memons throughout the Karachi region meet and share experiences  with other Memon members of their network – including Memons from unlike  castes. Within this regional network Memons help one another. They give  preferential treatment to other Memons of their regional network and  sometimes also to co-ethnics from other regional networks. Entrepreneurship  is encouraged by a collective effort without suppressing individual goals;  this extends the social embeddedness perspective of entrepreneurship allowing  for a collective efficacy along a regional network, facilitating  entrepreneurship among individuals.

   Keywords: collective efficacy, community, cultural capital, entrepreneurship, Memon, Pakistan, participatory observation, regional

    development, regional network

   JEL: I25 L26 L31 N0 Q01 R11

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:70120&r=soc

9. Cooperating over losses and competing over gains: a social dilemma experiment

   Ispano, Alessandro

   Schwardmann, Peter

 Evidence from studies in international relations, the politics of reform,  collective action and price competition suggests that economic agents in  social dilemma situations cooperate more to avoid losses than in the pursuit  of gains. To test whether the prospect of losses can induce cooperation, we  let experimental subjects play the traveler’s dilemma in the gain and loss  domain. Subjects cooperate substantially more over losses. Our experimental  design allows us to show that this treatment effect is best explained by  reference-dependent risk preferences and referencedependent strategic  sophistication. We discuss policy implications and relate our findings to  other experimental games played in the loss domain.

   Keywords: cooperation; traveler’s dilemma; social dilemma; loss domain; diminishing sensitivity; cognitive hierarchy

   JEL: C90 D01 D03 D81

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lmu:muenec:27576&r=soc

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