In this issue we feature 9 current papers on the theme of social capital, chosen by Fabio Sabatini (Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza”):

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1. Climate Risk, Cooperation, and the Co-Evolution of Culture and Institutions - Buggle, Johannes; Durante, Ruben
2. On the Origins of Entrepreneurship: Evidence from Sibling Correlation - Lindquist, Matthew; Sol, Joeri; van Praag, C. Mirjam; Vladasel, Theodor
3. Fairness and the unselfish demand for redistribution by taxpayers and welfare recipients - Sabatini, Fabio; Ventura, Marco; Yamamura, Eiji; Zamparelli, Luca
4. Family firms and access to credit. Is family ownership beneficial? Pierluigi Murro; Valentina Peruzzi
5. Cheating in Academia: The Relevance of Social Factors - Alessandro Bucciol; Simona Cicognani; Natalia Montinari
6. Group Influence in Sharing Experiments - Daniela Di Cagno; Werner Güth; Marcello Puca; Patrizia Sbriglia
7. Should Immigrants Culturally Assimilate or Preserve Their Own Culture? Individual Beliefs and the Longevity of National Identity - Peter Grajzl; Jonathan Eastwood; Valentina Dimitrova-Grajzl
8. Gender Differences in the Development of Other-Regarding Preferences - John, Katrin; Thomsen, Stephan L.
9. Economic Origins of Cultural Norms: The Case of Animal Husbandry and Bastardy - Eder, Christoph; Halla, Martin
10. How Do Peers Influence BMI? Evidence from Randomly Assigned Classrooms in South Korea - Jaegeum Lim; Jonathan Meer
11. Social Network Sustainability Metrics: A Study of Co-authoring Behaviors in the Social Sciences, Using 2008-2017 Scopus Data for Vietnam - Tung Manh Ho; Hong Kong Nguyen-To; Thu-Trang Vuong; Quan-Hoang Vuong

 1. Climate Risk, Cooperation, and the Co-Evolution of Culture and Institutions

    Buggle, Johannes

    Durante, Ruben

 This research examines the historical relationship between economic risk and  the evolution of social cooperation. We hypothesize that norms of generalized  trust developed in pre-industrial times as a result of experiences of  cooperation triggered by the need of subsistence farmers to cope with  climatic risk. These norms persisted over time, even after climate had become  largely unimportant for economic activity. We test this hypothesis for Europe  combining high-resolution climate data for the period 1500-2000 with survey  data at the sub-national level. We find that regions with higher inter-annual  variability in precipitation and temperature display higher levels of trust.

 This effect is driven by variability in the growing season months, and by  historical rather than recent variability. Regarding possible mechanisms, we  find that regions with more variable climate were more closely connected to  the Medieval trade network, indicating a higher propensity to engage in  inter-community exchange. These regions were also more likely to adopt  inclusive political institutions earlier on, and are characterized by a  higher quality of local governments still today. Our findings suggest that,  by favoring the emergence of mutually-reinforcing norms and institutions,  exposure to environmental risk had a long-lasting impact on human cooperation.

    Keywords: Climate; Cooperation; Persistence; Political Institutions; Risk; Trust

    JEL: N53 O11 O13 Q54 Z10

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:12380&r=soc

 2. On the Origins of Entrepreneurship: Evidence from Sibling Correlation

    Lindquist, Matthew (Swedish Institute for Social Research, Stockholm

     University)

    Sol, Joeri

    van Praag, C. Mirjam

    Vladasel, Theodor

 We assess the broad importance of family and community background for  entrepreneurship outcomes. We go beyond traditional, intergenerational  associations by estimating sibling correlations in unincorporated and  incorporated entrepreneurship using register data from Sweden. Sibling  correlations range from 20% to 50%. They are consistently higher for more  committed and incorporated entrepreneurship than for less committed or  unincorporated entrepreneurship; they are also higher for brothers than  sisters. We then assess what factors drive these correlations: parental  entrepreneurship, neighborhoods, shared genes and financial resources help  explain these high correlations, whereas immigration status, family structure  and sibling peer effects have a limited contribution. The higher correlation  for incorporated versus unincorporated entrepreneurship is explained mainly  by the type of parental entrepreneurial engagement and financial resources,  while the gap between brother and sister correlations in unincorporated  entrepreneurship is largely driven by the geographic concentration of male  dominated industries.

    Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Family Background; Intergenerational

     Persistence; Neighborhood Effects; Occupational Choice; Sibling Correlations

    JEL: D13 J62 L26

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:sofiwp:2017_007&r=soc

 3. Fairness and the unselfish demand for redistribution by taxpayers and welfare recipients

    Sabatini, Fabio

    Ventura, Marco

    Yamamura, Eiji

    Zamparelli, Luca

 We illustrate how the desire to live in a fair society that rewards  individual effort and hard work triggers an unselfish though rational demand  for redistribution. This leads the well off to prefer higher taxes and the  poor to reject extreme progressivity. We then provide evidence of these  behaviors using a nationally representative survey from Italy. Our empirical  analysis confirms that a stronger aversion to unfair distributive outcomes is  associated with a higher support for redistribution by individuals with high  income and to a lower demand for redistribution by those with low income.

    Keywords: fairness, income distribution, inequalities, taxation, Welfare, redistribution, free-riding, civic capital, social capital

    JEL: D63 H10 H50 H53 Z1

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:82081&r=soc

 4. Family firms and access to credit. Is family ownership beneficial?

    Pierluigi Murro (LUMSA University)

    Valentina Peruzzi (Università Politecnica delle Marche)  This paper investigates the effect of family ownership on credit rationing  using a rich sample of Italian manufacturing firms. We find that family  ownership increases the probability of credit rationing. Conflicts between  large and minority shareholders, family firms’ lack of competencies and  conservatism appear to be the main determinants of this result. By contrast,  family owners’ long-termism, risk aversion, and relationship lending mitigate  the adverse impact of family ownership on firms’ credit availability.

 Finally, we find that family businesses are more likely to be rationed in  provinces with high level of social capital and judicial efficiency,  suggesting that delegation problems are mitigated by personal relationships  in areas where cooperation mechanisms are weaker.

    Keywords: Family firms, credit rationing, agency conflicts, relationship lending

    JEL: D22 G21 G32

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lsa:wpaper:wpc23&r=soc

 5. Cheating in Academia: The Relevance of Social Factors

    Alessandro Bucciol (Department of Economics (University of Verona))

    Simona Cicognani (Department of Economics (University of Verona))

    Natalia Montinari (University of Bologna)  We implemented an online anonymous survey targeted to current and former  university students, where the interviewed are asked to indicate whether and  to what extent they cheated during written exams. We want to learn if  cheating is widespread, and if it correlates with social factors such as the  level of trust in others, the beliefs about the peers’ dishonesty and  perceived level of opportunism in the society. We find that 61% of the  respondents report to have cheated once or more. Cheaters are more likely to  report that their classmates and friends cheated, and that in general people  can be trusted. In contrast, being aware of the sanction, earning top grades  and thinking that people are willing to take advantage of others is  negatively correlated with self-reported cheating. There is evidence of two  different cheating styles: “social cheaters”, who self-report mostly that  they have violated the rules interacting with others; “individualistic” cheaters, who self-report mostly that they have used prohibited materials.

 Only social cheaters seem affected by social factors: they exhibit higher  levels of trust and lower levels of perceived opportunism compared to  individualistic cheaters, while no differences between the two groups are  found when looking at other dimensions.

    Keywords: Academic cheating, Honesty, Trust, Online survey

    JEL: I21 D01

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ver:wpaper:15/2017&r=soc

 6. Group Influence in Sharing Experiments

    Daniela Di Cagno

    Werner Güth

    Marcello Puca

    Patrizia Sbriglia

 We experimentally study how group identity and social influence affect  proposers and recipients in Ultimatum and Impunity Games. To induce group  identity and social effects, we assign individuals to different color groups  and inform them about the median choice of their own group. When testing the  relevance of this social signal for intentions and decisions we distinguish uni- and bi-dimensional behavior, the latter to let individuals select on  which rule of conduct of the others to condition own behavior. When  disagreement and conflicting views are possible, coordinating with group  behavior may be less important and individuals may prefer self-serving. The  bi-dimensional design apparently allows for more variety: tracking both group  medians, only one or none.Social influence significantly affects behavior in  Ultimatum but has much weaker impact in Impunity experiments. Social  information seems to act in two ways: as a coordination device and as a  learning device. However, the marginal impact of the signal and the direction  of its influence is strongly role dependent.

    Keywords: ultimatum Game, impunity game, social influence, group identity, fairness, experiments.

    JEL: C90 C91

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:usi:labsit:050&r=soc

 7. Should Immigrants Culturally Assimilate or Preserve Their Own Culture? Individual Beliefs and the Longevity of National Identity

    Peter Grajzl

    Jonathan Eastwood

    Valentina Dimitrova-Grajzl

 We develop and empirically test a theory concerning individual beliefs about  whether immigrants should culturally assimilate into the host society or  preserve their own cultural norms. We argue that when national identity is a  source of intrinsic utility, the longevity of national identity influences a  national identity’s perceived resilience to an ostensible immigrant threat  and, thus, affects individuals’ beliefs about the need for immigrants’  cultural assimilation. Empirical evidence based on data from countries of  wider Europe supports our theory. An expert survey-based measure of the  longevity of national identity, first, exhibits a robustly negative effect on  the strength of individual preferences in favor of immigrants’ cultural  assimilation and, second, is an important contextual moderating variable that  shapes the effect of individual-level characteristics on their beliefs. Thus,  individual beliefs about the necessity of immigrants’ cultural assimilation  versus accommodation of cultural diversity reflect a historically-rooted  sense of national identity.

    Keywords: cultural assimilation, immigrants, individual beliefs, national identity, longevity

    JEL: Z13 J18 D72 P51

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_6470&r=soc

 8. Gender Differences in the Development of Other-Regarding Preferences

    John, Katrin (Leibniz University of Hannover)

    Thomsen, Stephan L. (Leibniz University of Hannover)  We use data from a gender-neutral dictator and public goods game setting to  analyze differences in other-regarding preferences between boys and girls  aged 10 to 17. The results indicate a higher mean of dictator giving, degree  of egalitarian decisions and lower frequency of selfish decisions,  free-riding and efficiency concerns for girls. Gender differences are already  established at approximately age 10. They cannot be explained by  gender-specific increases in other-regarding preferences, differences in  dispositions or the impact of personality traits. We conclude that genes and  early social learning are the sources of gender differences in  other-regarding preferences.

    Keywords: gender, other-regarding preferences, personality traits, dictator game, public goods game

    JEL: C91 D03 J16

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11044&r=soc

 9. Economic Origins of Cultural Norms: The Case of Animal Husbandry and Bastardy

    Eder, Christoph

    Halla, Martin

 We explore the origins of the cultural norm regarding illegitimacy and test  the hypothesis that traditional agricultural production structures influenced  the historical illegitimacy ratio, and have a lasting effect until today.

 Based on data dating back to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, we use exogenous  variation in the local agricultural suitability to show that descendants from  societies focusing on animal husbandry (and not crop farming) are today still  more likely to have a non-marital birth.

    JEL: J13

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc17:168090&r=soc

10. How Do Peers Influence BMI? Evidence from Randomly Assigned Classrooms in South Korea

    Jaegeum Lim

    Jonathan Meer

 Obesity among children is an important public health concern, and social  networks may play a role in students' habits that increase the likelihood of  being overweight. We examine data from South Korean middle schools, where  students are randomly assigned to classrooms, and exploit the variation in  peer body mass index. We use the number of peers' siblings as an instrument  to account for endogeneity concerns and measurement error. Heavier peers  increase the likelihood that a student is heavier; there is no spurious  correlation for height, which is unlikely to have peer contagion. Public  policy that targets obesity can have spillovers through social networks.

    JEL: I12 J13

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:23901&r=soc

11. Social Network Sustainability Metrics: A Study of Co-authoring Behaviors in the Social Sciences, Using 2008-2017 Scopus Data for Vietnam

    Tung Manh Ho

    Hong Kong Nguyen-To

    Thu-Trang Vuong

    Quan-Hoang Vuong

 The study examines the co-authoring behaviors of 412 Vietnamese social  scientists over the 2008-2017 period via a new method – social network  analysis – to determine if these researchers have formed sustainable  scientific communities, using Scopus data. The dataset provides an insightful  look into the predominant form of collaboration, i.e. co-authorship, within  the Vietnamese social science research communities. Through basic network  metrics such as density and clustering coefficient, the study hypothesizes  that the socially sustainable research communities are those with low  clustering and high density. As any scholar’s position in a network can be  specified by three quantities: number of publications, connections, and years  in research, the distance metrics from the most productive to the rest are  computed and compared. The study hypothesizes that if the distance is too  large; it reflects the socially unsustainable situation in the network. The  results indicate that certain level of social unsustainability exists in  social sciences groups in Vietnam. Though the results are only indicative, it  has opened up a fertile space for future enquiry into this matter.

    Keywords: publishing behavior; co-authoring behavior; sustainable     scientific communities; social sustainability distance; social network analysis

    JEL: D85 D91 Q01

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sol:wpaper:2013/260048&r=soc

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