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

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In this issue we have:

1. Immigrants and Gender Roles: Assimilation vs. Culture - Blau, Francine D.
2. The Role of Individual Social Capital in Wage Determination: Evidence from China - LIU Yang
3. Social Networks and Labour productivity: A survey of recent theory and evidence - Farzana Afridi; Amrita Dhillon; Swati Sharma
4. Other-Regarding Preferences and Reciprocity: Insights from Experimental Findings and Satisfaction Data - L. Becchetti; V. Pelligra; S.F. Taurino
5. Gender Identity and Relative Income within Households: Evidence from Sweden - Hederos Eriksson, Karin; Stenberg, Anders
6. Modern Family: Female Breadwinners and the Intergenerational Transmission of Gender Norms - Panos Mavrokonstantis
7. Volunteering to take on power: Experimental evidence from matrilineal and patriarchal societies in India - Banerjee, Debosree; Ibañez, Marcela; Riener, Gerhard; Wollni, Meike
8. Social Interactions in Job Satisfaction - Tumen, Semih; Zeydanli, Tugba
9. Signaling Cooperation - Heinz, Matthias; Schumacher, Heiner
10. Incentives for Prosocial Behavior: The Role of Reputations - Christine L. Exley
11. Wage Elasticities in Working and Volunteering: The Role of Reference Points in a Laboratory Study - Christine L. Exley; Stephen J. Terry

1. Immigrants and Gender Roles: Assimilation vs. Culture - Blau, Francine D. (Cornell University) 

This paper examines evidence on the role of assimilation versus source  country culture in influencing immigrant women's behavior in the United  States – looking both over time with immigrants' residence in the United  States and across immigrant generations. It focuses particularly on labor  supply but, for the second generation, also examines fertility and education.

 We find considerable evidence that immigrant source country gender roles  influence immigrant and second generation women's behavior in the United  States. This conclusion is robust to various efforts to rule out the effect  of other unobservables and to distinguish the effect of culture from that of  social capital. These results support a growing literature that suggests that  culture matters for economic behavior. At the same time, the results suggest  considerable evidence of assimilation of immigrants. Immigrant women narrow  the labor supply gap with native‐born women with time in the United States,  and, while our results suggest an important role for intergenerational  transmission, they also indicate considerable convergence of immigrants to  native levels of schooling, fertility, and labor supply across generations.

    Keywords: gender, immigration, labor supply, wages, social capital, culture, human capital

    JEL: J13 J16 J22 J24 J61

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9534&r=soc

 2. The Role of Individual Social Capital in Wage Determination: Evidence from China - LIU Yang

 This study examines the role of the individual level of social capital in the  process of workers' wage determination in a Nash-bargaining wage model using  Chinese micro-level data. We find a significant contribution of  individual-specific social capital towards the wage level. In particular,  larger individual social networks and workers' positive attitudes towards  social capital increase the wage level significantly. Moreover, the effect of  social capital on the wage level is much larger for male workers than  females. Our results indicate that construction of individual social capital  could increase workers' wages, while effort should be made to reduce unequal  contributions of social capital between males and females.

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:dpaper:15133&r=soc

 3. Social Networks and Labour productivity: A survey of recent theory and evidence - Farzana Afridi (Economics and Planning Unit,Indian Statistical Institute,

     New Delhi and Research Fellow, IZA)

    Amrita Dhillon (Department of Political Economy, King’s College London,

     External Affiliate, CAGE, University of Warwick and Associate Member,

     Nuffield College.)

    Swati Sharma (Economics and Planning Unit, Indian Statistical Institute,

     New Delhi)

 In this paper we survey some of the more recent theoretical and empirical  literature on social networks and labour productivity. We discuss the use of  referrals in recruitment of workers and the possible mechanisms underlying  their use as well as ex-post effects on productivity from having connected  workers in the firm and the channels for these effects. We also suggest some  open questions for further research.

    Keywords: Referrals, Screening, Search, Learning, Moral Hazard, Peer

     effects, co-worker networks, strength of ties, wage premia, wage penalty,

     favouritism. JEL Classification: J41, J31, D82, D86, O12, O17

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cge:wacage:243&r=soc

 4. Other-Regarding Preferences and Reciprocity: Insights from Experimental Findings and Satisfaction Data - L. Becchetti,    V. Pelligra, S.F. Taurino

 We measure satisfaction about experimental outcomes, personal and other  participants’ behaviour after a multiperiod ‘hybrid contribution’ multiplayer  prisoner’s dilemma (the Vote-with-the-Wallet game). Our work shows that  participants who cooperated above median (which we define as strong

 cooperators) are significantly more satisfied with the game in proportion to  their cooperative choice, irrespective of the material pay- off they obtain.

 On the contrary, their satisfaction for the other players’ behavior is  negatively correlated with the extent of their own cooperative behavior and  the non-cooperative behavior of the latter. The satisfaction of strong  cooperators for their behavior in the game depends in turn on the share of  their own cooperative choices. We document that a broader utility function  including heterogeneity in expectations on other players’ behavior,  other-regarding preferences, and a negative reciprocity argument may account  for the combination of the behavioral and self-reported data.

    Keywords: Subjective Well-Being, social preferences, Vote-with-the-Wallet,

     lab experiment

    JEL: C72 C92 I31

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cns:cnscwp:201514&r=soc

 5. Gender Identity and Relative Income within Households: Evidence from Sweden - Hederos Eriksson, Karin (SOFI, Stockholm University)

    Stenberg, Anders (SOFI, Stockholm University)  Bertrand et al. (2015) show that among married couples in the US, the  distribution of the share of the household income earned by the wife exhibits  a sharp drop just to the right of .50. They argue that this drop is  consistent with a social norm prescribing that a man should earn more than  his wife. We repeat this analysis for Sweden, ranked as one of the world's  most gender equal countries. Analyzing Swedish population register data, we  do not find support for the norm that a man should earn more than his wife.

    Keywords: gender roles, marriage market, gender gap, gender identity

    JEL: D10 J12 J16

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9533&r=soc

 6. Modern Family: Female Breadwinners and the Intergenerational Transmission of Gender Norms - Panos Mavrokonstantis

 In this paper I investigate the intergenerational transmission of gender  norms. The norm I focus on is the traditional view that it is the role of the  mother to look after young children and the role of the father to be the  breadwinner. I develop a model of identity formation where a child's gender  norm is endogenous to two main sources of socialisation: her family on the  one hand, and society at large on the other. Using data from the Next Steps  survey and the International Social Survey Programme, I examine the  intergenerational transmission of gender norms in England when the norms of  the family, and the society it is embedded in, are oppositional. My findings  indicate between-sex heterogeneity in the transmission of gender norms from  parents to children. Boys raised in modern families (i.e. where the mother is  the breadwinner) are less likely to develop traditional norms. However,  compared to those in traditional families, girls raised in modern families  are actually more likely to be traditional; in opposition to their family's  but in line with society's norm. Examining further outcomes associated with  gender norms, I find that girls raised in modern families are also less  likely to state that being able to earn high wages is important for them, and  are less likely to pursue a science degree at university level. I use my  identity formation model to argue that these results can be explained by  heterogeneity in preferences for conformity to the family, and present  empirical evidence that indeed, girls in modern families are less conformist  than those in traditional families. Using a regression discontinuity design,  I further show that this weaker preference for conformity is in fact a result  of the treatment of living in a modern family.

    Keywords: intergenerational transmission, gender norms, gender inequality

    JEL: D10 J16 Z13

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:stippp:27&r=soc

 7. Volunteering to take on power: Experimental evidence from matrilineal and patriarchal societies in India - Banerjee, Debosree; Ibañez, Marcela; Riener, Gerhard; Wollni, Meike

 Gender equity in the creation and enforcement of social norms is important  not only as a normative principle but it can also support long term economic  growth. Yet in most societies, coercive power is in the hands of men. We  investigate whether this form of segregation is due to gender differences in  the willingness to volunteer for take on positions of power. In order to  study whether potential differences are innate or driven by social factors,  we implement a public goods game with endogenous third-party punishment in  matrilineal and patriarchal societies in India. Our findings indicate that  segregation in coercive roles is due to conformity with pre-assigned gender  roles in both cultures. We find that women in the matrilineal society are  more willing to assume the role of norm enforcer than men while the opposite  is true in the patriarchal society. Moreover, we find that changes in the  institutional environment that are associated with a decrease in the exposure  and retaliation against the norm enforcer, result in increased participation  of the segregated gender. Our results suggest that the organizational  environment can be adjusted to increase the representation of women in  positions of power, and that it is critical to take the cultural context into  account.

    Keywords: Gender,Norm enforcement,Segregation,Third party punisher,Public

     goods game

    JEL: C90 C92 C93 C92 D03 D70 D81 J16

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:dicedp:204&r=soc

 8. Social Interactions in Job Satisfaction - Tumen, Semih (Central Bank of Turkey)

    Zeydanli, Tugba (Collegio Carlo Alberto)  The literature documents that job satisfaction is positively correlated with  worker performance and productivity. We examine whether aggregate job  satisfaction in a certain labor market environment can have an impact on  individual-level job satisfaction. If the answer is yes, then policies  targeted to increase job satisfaction can increase productivity not only  directly, but through spillover externalities too. We seek an answer to this  question using two different data sets from the United Kingdom characterizing  two different labor market environments: Workplace Employment Relations  Survey (WERS) at the workplace level (i.e., narrowly defined worker groups)  and British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) at the local labor market level  (i.e., larger worker groups defined in industry x region cells). Implementing  an original empirical strategy to identify spillover effects, we find that  one standard deviation increase in aggregate job satisfaction leads to a 0.42  standard deviation increase in individual-level job satisfaction at the  workplace level and 0.15 standard deviation increase in individual-level job  satisfaction at the local labor market level. These social interactions  effects are sizable and should not be ignored in assessing the effectiveness  of the policies designed to improve job satisfaction.

    Keywords: job satisfaction, social interactions, spillovers, hierarchical

     model, WERS, BHPS

    JEL: C31 D62 J28

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9505&r=soc

 9. Signaling Cooperation - Heinz, Matthias; Schumacher, Heiner

 We examine what an applicant’s vita signals to potential employers about her  willingness to cooperate in teams. Intensive social engagement may credibly  reveal that an applicant cares about the well-being of others and therefore  is less likely to free-ride in teamwork situations. We find that  contributions in a public goods game strongly increase in a subject’s degree  of social engagement as indicated on her résumé (and rated by an independent  third party). Engagement in other domains, such as student or sports  associations, is not positively correlated with contributions. In a  prediction experiment with human resource managers from various industries,  we find that managers use résumé content effectively to predict relative  differences in subjects’ willingness to cooperate. Thus, young professionals  signal important behavioral characteristics to potential employers through  the choice of their extracurricular activities.

    Keywords: extracurricular activities; labor market; public good; signaling

    JEL: C72 C92 D82

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:10942&r=soc

10. Incentives for Prosocial Behavior: The Role of Reputations - Christine L. Exley (Harvard Business School, Negotiation, Organizations & Markets Unit)

 Do monetary incentives encourage volunteering? Or, do they introduce a  "greedy" signal and hence crowd out the motivation to volunteer? Since the  strength of this greedy signal is normally unobserved, the answer is  theoretically unclear, and corresponding empirical evidence is mixed. I  overcome this ambiguity by examining individuals for whom the greedy signal  strength is likely weak - those with public reputations about their past  volunteer behavior. In a laboratory experiment, I show that crowd out in  response to public incentives is much less likely among those with public, as  opposed to private, reputations.

    Keywords: incentives; image motivation; volunteer; prosocial behavior;

     altruism; gender

    JEL: C91 D64 H41

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hbs:wpaper:16-063&r=soc

11. Wage Elasticities in Working and Volunteering: The Role of Reference Points in a Laboratory Study - Christine L. Exley (Harvard Business School, Negotiation, Organizations & Markets Unit)

    Stephen J. Terry (Boston University)  Volunteers provide a large source of labor in the United States, yet  volunteer effort is often unresponsive to traditional incentives. To clarify  the sources of this unresponsiveness within volunteering, we appeal to a  classic explanation: targeting behavior. In particular, we provide a  laboratory test of effort response to changes in wages, either accrued to  individuals or to a charity, in the presence of expectations-based reference  points or targets. When individuals earn money for themselves, higher wages  lead to higher effort with relatively muted targeting behavior. When  individuals earn money for a charity, higher wages instead lead to lower  effort with substantial targeting behavior. For managers contemplating the  use of performance goals or targets within nonprofit organizations, our  results suggest careful consideration about the extent to which they may  render other incentives less effective.

    Keywords: reference points; wage elasticities; labor supply; effort;

     volunteering; prosocial behavior

    JEL: D12 D64 D84 J22 H41

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hbs:wpaper:16-062&r=soc

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