In this issue we feature 9 current papers on the theme of social capital:

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In this issue we have:

1. Can War Foster Cooperation? Michal Bauer; Christopher Blattman; Julie Chytilová; Joseph Henrich; Edward Miguel; Tamar Mitts
2. Provision of public goods: Unconditional and conditional donations from outsiders - Esther Blanco; Tobias Haller; James M. Walker
3. Guilt-Averse or Reciprocal? Looking at Behavioural Motivations in the Trust Game - Yola Engler; Rudolf Kerschbamer; Lionel Page
4. A Lasting Effect of the HIV/AIDS Pandemic: Orphans and Pro-Social Behavior - Joshua Hall; Shree Baba Pokharel
5. The Impact of Microfinance on Pro-Social Behaviors: Experimental Evidence of Public Goods Contributions in Uganda - Bryan McCannon; Zachary Rodriguez
6. Social Ties of University Students: Evidence from a Longitudinal Survey in Russia - Ekaterina V. Krekhovets; Liudmila A. Leonova
7. Values and Attitudes Towards Corruption: À Cross-Cultural Study in Four European Countries - Alexander Tatarko; Anna Mironova
8. Impact of Government structure and interventions and social capital on the transformation of the smallholder vegetable industry: The case of Barangay, Songco, Lantapan, Philippines - Romo, Glory Dee; Brown, Colin; Cramb, Rob
9. Incentive of risk sharing and trust formation: Experimental and survey evidence from Bangladesh - Shoji, Masahiro

1. Can War Foster Cooperation?

   Michal Bauer

   Christopher Blattman

   Julie Chytilová

   Joseph Henrich

   Edward Miguel

   Tamar Mitts

 In the past decade, nearly 20 studies have found a strong, persistent pattern  in surveys and behavioral experiments from over 40 countries: individual  exposure to war violence tends to increase social cooperation at the local  level, including community participation and prosocial behavior. Thus while  war has many negative legacies for individuals and societies, it appears to  leave a positive legacy in terms of local cooperation and civic engagement.

 We discuss, synthesize and reanalyze the emerging body of evidence, and weigh  alternative explanations. There is some indication that war violence  especially enhances in-group or "parochial" norms and preferences, a finding  that, if true, suggests that the rising social cohesion we document need not  promote broader peace.

   JEL: C80 D74 H56 O10 O12 O40

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:22312&r=soc

2. Provision of public goods: Unconditional and conditional donations from outsiders

   Esther Blanco

   Tobias Haller

   James M. Walker

 The provision of public goods often benefits a larger group than those who  actively provide the public good. In an experimental setting, this paper  addresses institutional arrangements between subjects who can provide a  public good (insiders) and subjects who benefit from the public good but  cannot provide it (outsiders). We compare a setting of passive outsiders to  situations where outsiders can either make unconditional transfers

 (donations) or conditional transfers (contracts) to the insiders. The primary  behavioral question is to what extent outsiders will respond to the  opportunity to subsidize the contributions of insiders and will insiders use  such subsidies to increase contributions or simply substitute them for their  own contributions. The results suggest the latter. In fact, once conditional  or unconditional transfers are allowed, insiders decrease contributions to  the public good relative to the baseline condition without transfers.

   Keywords: Public goods, Institution, Externality, Laboratory Experiment

   JEL: D70 H41 C92

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:inn:wpaper:2016-16&r=soc

3. Guilt-Averse or Reciprocal? Looking at Behavioural Motivations in the Trust Game

   Yola Engler

   Rudolf Kerschbamer

   Lionel Page

 For the trust game, recent models of belief-dependent motivations make  opposite predictions regarding the correlation between back-transfers and  secondorder beliefs of the trustor: While reciprocity models predict a  negative correlation, guilt-aversion models predict a positive one. This  paper tests the hypothesis that the inconclusive results in previous studies  investigating the reaction of trustees to their beliefs are due to the fact  that reciprocity and guilt-aversion are behaviorally relevant for different  subgroups and that their impact cancels out in the aggregate. We find little  evidence in support of this hypothesis and conclude that type heterogeneity  is unlikely to explain previous results.

   JEL: C25 C70 C91 D63 D64

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qut:qubewp:wp039&r=soc

4. A Lasting Effect of the HIV/AIDS Pandemic: Orphans and Pro-Social Behavior

   Joshua Hall (West Virginia University, Department of Economics)

   Shree Baba Pokharel (West Virginia University, Department of Economics)  The HIV/AIDS pandemic has caused numerous deaths. One unfortunate consequence  of this is the deterioration in family structure and the prevalence of  orphanhood. We investigate whether individuals who were orphaned as a child  suffer long-term consequences through a underinvestment in their social  capital. We conduct a framed field experiment in rural, southern Uganda where  the HIV/AIDS pandemic hit hardest. In the experiment, subjects made decisions  to contribute to a public good. Results indicate that adults who were  orphaned as a child free ride more contributing less to the public good. We  explore the mechanism through which their background operates. We provide  evidence that an important channel is through social norms. Subjects orphaned  when young tend to have lower expectations regarding typical behavior of  others. A strong interaction effect is identified where those with the lowest  expectations who were also orphaned contribute the least to the public good.

 Thus, we document long-term consequences to a community of the adverse health  event.

   Keywords: HIV/AIDS, orphan, pro-social behavior, public good, social

    capital, social norm, Uganda

   JEL: I15 D03 C93

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wvu:wpaper:16-10&r=soc

5. The Impact of Microfinance on Pro-Social Behaviors: Experimental Evidence of Public Goods Contributions in Uganda

   Bryan McCannon (West Virginia University, Department of Economics)

   Zachary Rodriguez (Saint Bonaventure University, School of Business)  We ask whether access to microfinance loans by the poor has a spillover  effect on their pro†social behaviors. An experimental field study in  southern, rural Uganda is conducted using free riding in public goods  contributions as an assessment. We document higher levels of contributions by  those who have previously received a microloan. This effect cannot be  explained by changes in social norms, income effects, or sample selection  bias. The results suggest that exposure to microfinance promotes social  preferences.

   Keywords: experiment, field study, free riding, microfinance, public goods, social norm, social preference, Uganda

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wvu:wpaper:16-13&r=soc

6. Social Ties of University Students: Evidence from a Longitudinal Survey in Russia

   Ekaterina V. Krekhovets (National Research University Higher School of

    Economics)

   Liudmila A. Leonova (National Research University Higher School of

    Economics)

 Student friendship networks can be considered as social capital, which is  known to be a very useful resource during university and after it. Several  empirical studies have examined static models of student behaviour in social  networks. In this study we analyse the dynamic changes of student social  connections. We use original longitude data of student social ties from one  Russian university. Data was collected within the framework of a research  project of the International Research Laboratory for Institutional Analysis  of Economic Reforms. To investigate factors influencing the evolution of  social ties during university probit regressions were tested. We found that  students with similar characteristics such as gender and academic achievement  are more likely to become friends and continue to be friends. Both studying  in the same group and living in a dormitory increase the likelihood of being  friends. We also found a transitivity effect. We observe a positive effect of  having common friend on friendship ties. We also notice a positive link  between reciprocity and friendship stability.

   Keywords: social networks, friendship, higher education

   JEL: D85 I21 I23

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:33edu2015&r=soc

7. Values and Attitudes Towards Corruption: À Cross-Cultural Study in Four European Countries

   Alexander Tatarko (National Research University Higher School of Economics)

   Anna Mironova (National Research University Higher School of Economics)  This article analyses the association between personal values and the  acceptability of corruption in Russia, France, Germany, and Latvia. Several  studies show that cultural values can be related to the level of corruption  in the countries at the societal level. We look at the following two

 questions: (1) Can universal personal values influence the acceptability of  corruption for an individual? (2) Is such an influence the same in different  countries? A specialized methodology for assessing the acceptability of  corruption for an individual was developed and validated. Individual values  were assessed using the methodology developed by Schwartz. The studies were  conducted in Russia (N=269), France (N=108), Germany (N=101) and Latvia  (N=178). The results show that individual values have more inverse  correlations with the acceptance of corruption than direct ones. In other  words, values play an important role in limiting corrupt behaviour, but not  in stimulating it. We discuss the correlations between personal values and  the acceptability of corruption and analyse the psychology of these  relationships

   Keywords: the acceptability of corruption, individual values

   JEL: Z

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:61psy2016&r=soc

8. Impact of Government structure and interventions and social capital on the transformation of the smallholder vegetable industry: The case of Barangay

    Songco, Lantapan, Philippines

   Romo, Glory Dee

   Brown, Colin

   Cramb, Rob

   Keywords: Agricultural and Food Policy,

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare16:235589&r=soc

9. Incentive of risk sharing and trust formation: Experimental and survey evidence from Bangladesh

   Shoji, Masahiro

 Using data from a unique household survey and an artefactual field experiment  conducted in rural Bangladesh, this study evaluates the impact on trust in  community members of an incentive to maintain a risk-sharing arrangement  between villagers. Risk sharing is a major opportunity for cooperation in  rural economies, and the experience of cooperation could facilitate trust. In  order to test this hypothesis, this study characterizes the incentive for  risk sharing by the patterns of exogenous income shocks in the real world and  risk preference, and trust in community members is elicited experimentally.

 The empirical results from dyadic regression demonstrate that villagers  connected by a stronger incentive form higher level of trust. It is also  found that villagers are more likely to share risks in villages that have  stronger incentives. These findings suggest that the introduction of formal  insurance, which reduces the incentive of risk sharing, could break down  trust.

   Keywords: Trust formation; risk sharing; experiment; Bangladesh

   JEL: C91 D12

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:71950&r=soc

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