In this issue we feature 10 current papers on the theme of social capital:

Access to full contents may be restricted. To subscribe/unsubscribe follow this link: http://lists.repec.org/mailman/options.

In this issue we have:

 1. Natural Experiments in Macroeconomics - Fuchs-Schündeln, Nicola; Hassan, Tarek

 2. Economic Development: Is Social Capital Persistent? Rakesh N R Gupta

 3. Does Ethnic Diversity Affect Social Capital in the Russian Context? Alexander Tatarko; Anna Mironova; Segey Chuvashov

 4. An Experimental Study of Persuasion Bias and Social Influence in Networks - Jordi Brandts; Ayça Ebru Giritligil; Roberto A. Weber

 5. Social Networks and Economic Life in Rural Zambia - Leavy, Jennifer

 6. Strategic influence in social networks - Michel Grabisch; Antoine Mandel; Agnieszka Rusinowska; Emily Tanimura

 7. Teams, Organization and Education Outcomes: Evidence from a field experiment in Bangladesh - Hahn, Youjin; Islam, Asadul; Patacchini, Eleonora; Zenou, Yves

 8. Social Identity and Social Free-Riding - Mark Bernard; Florian Hett; Mario Mechtel

 9. Trust-building in international business ventures - Alexandra Gerbasi; Dominika Latusek

10. The roles of human values and generalized trust on stated preferences when food is labeled with environmental footprints: insights from Germany - Grebitus, Carola; Steiner, Bodo; Veeman, Michele

 1. Natural Experiments in Macroeconomics

    Fuchs-Schündeln, Nicola

    Hassan, Tarek

 A growing literature relies on natural experiments to establish causal  effects in macroeconomics. In diverse applications, natural experiments have  been used to verify underlying assumptions of conventional models, quantify  specific model parameters, and identify mechanisms that have major effects on  macroeconomic quantities but are absent from conventional models. We discuss  and compare the use of natural experiments across these different  applications and summarize what they have taught us about such diverse  subjects as the validity of the Permanent Income Hypothesis, the size of the  fiscal multiplier, and about the effects of institutions, social structure,  and culture on economic growth. We also outline challenges for future work in  each of these fields, give guidance for identifying useful natural  experiments, and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the approach.

    Keywords: Civic Capital; Fiscal Multiplier; Institutions; Multiple

     Equilibria; Networks; Permanent Income Hypothesis; Social Structure;

     Social Ties; Trust

    JEL: C1 C9 E21 E62 H31 O11 O14 O43 O50

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:10628&r=soc

 2. Economic Development: Is Social Capital Persistent?

    Rakesh N R Gupta (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - UP1 -

     Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS, EEP-PSE - Ecole d'Économie de Paris -

     Paris School of Economics, Essec Business School)  This paper, on the one hand, goes a step closer to demonstrate the causality  of social capital on economic performance. On the other hand, we confirm a  continued role of social capital effects on economic performance in this  paper by using a much larger sample, spanning three decades and increasing  the scope of countries. This paper is unique in the sense that it contributes  to revisiting questions of economic performance, social capital and  institutions with a clearly better and updated dataset from the last 28 years  building upon existing empirical evidence. We employ a longitudinal analysis  (pooled unbalanced multiple cross-section datasets) with fixed effects in  this study. Our sample includes both the World Values Survey and European  Values Study dating back to the 1980s. Our results are twofold: Firstly, to  confirm that trust has a significant positive effect on growth. And more  importantly, they have a significant effect on growth for at least 5 years  (for growth at 5, 7 and 10 years following a period of trust measure).

 Secondly, associational activities – another measure in the overarching  definitions of social capital, along with institutions, inequality, and  education are consistently significant determinants of trust.

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:cesptp:halshs-01157891&r=soc

 3. Does Ethnic Diversity Affect Social Capital in the Russian Context?

    Alexander Tatarko (National Research University Higher School of Economics)

    Anna Mironova (National Research University Higher School of Economics)

    Segey Chuvashov (National Research University Higher School of Economics)  The research considers the impact of ethnic diversity on social capital in  the Russian context. The theoretical study is based on Putnam’s hypothesis  related to the impact of ethnic diversity on social capital. The empirical  basis of a representative survey was compiled in two multicultural regions of  Russia (N = 2061). To assess the level of ethnic diversity an Ethnic  Diversity Index (EDI) was calculated based on the results of the latest  National Population Census. Data were processed using two-level structural  equitation modelling. The results showed that ethnic diversity did not affect  adversely the social capital of Russia, as assumed in Putnam’s hypothesis. In  particular, Russia's ethnic diversity positively influences ethnic tolerance  and informal sociability and does not affect social trust and community  organizational life. The article also suggests reasons for these results

    Keywords: social capital, ethnic diversity, social trust, community

     organizational life, informal sociability, ethnic tolerance

    JEL: D85 Z13

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:63/soc/2015&r=soc

 4. An Experimental Study of Persuasion Bias and Social Influence in Networks

    Jordi Brandts

    Ayça Ebru Giritligil

    Roberto A. Weber

 In many areas of social life, individuals receive information about a  particular issue of interest from multiple sources. When these sources are  connected through a network, then proper aggregation of this information by  an individual involves taking into account the structure of this network. The  inability to aggregate properly may lead to various types of distortions. In  our experiment, four agents all want to find out the value of a particular  parameter unknown to all. Agents receive private signals about the parameter  and can communicate their estimates of the parameter repeatedly through a  network, the structure of which is known by all players. We present results  from experiments with three different networks. We find that the information  of agents who have more outgoing links in a network gets more weight in the  information aggregation of the other agents than under optimal updating. Our  results are consistent with the model of “persuasion bias” of DeMarzo et al.

 (2003).

    Keywords: persuasion bias, experiments, bounded rationality

    JEL: C92 D03 D83

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bge:wpaper:829&r=soc

 5. Social Networks and Economic Life in Rural Zambia

    Leavy, Jennifer

 This thesis explores the relationship between social networks and economic  life in rural Zambia. The motivation for the study lies in the crucial role  played by social context and social networks in exchange behaviour in rural  sub-Saharan Africa, and inherent difficulties in formalising market  transactions in this context within a standard neoclassical economics  framework. The study examines the role of social networks in rural production  systems, focusing on crop market participation. It is based on analysis of  findings from social network research conducted by the author in three  predominantly Bemba villages in Northern Province, Zambia. Data collected  using quantitative and qualitative methods are used to map social networks of  individuals and households. Variables are constructed capturing network  characteristics, and incorporated into transactions cost models of  ommercialisation. The overarching question is: do social networks play a role  in determining farming success in settings with little variability between  households on assets and endowments – land, labour, inputs – and where  markets are incomplete or missing? Do social networks mediate market and  resource access, helping to explain socio-economic differences between  households? The research finds rural life is characterised by diverse  networks with multiple, overlapping functions. Much economic exchange takes  place on reciprocal or kinship bases, rooted in social norms and reflecting  community structures. How social networks are measured matters. Different  network attributes are important for different people, and relationships  between networks and outcomes depend on the measure used. Controlling for  endogeneity, estimation results suggest larger networks have a negative  effect on crop incomes whereas having a greater proportion of kin in the  network has a positive effect, implying that in this context strong ties are  key. Qualitative research suggests the nature of people’s networks and their  positions within them play an important role in the command over labour: “the  famous always get their work done"

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sus:susphd:0812&r=soc

 6. Strategic influence in social networks

    Michel Grabisch (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - UP1 - Université

     Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS, EEP-PSE - Ecole d'Économie de Paris - Paris

     School of Economics)

    Antoine Mandel (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - UP1 - Université

     Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS, EEP-PSE - Ecole d'Économie de Paris - Paris

     School of Economics)

    Agnieszka Rusinowska (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - UP1 -

     Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS, EEP-PSE - Ecole d'Économie de Paris -

     Paris School of Economics)

    Emily Tanimura (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - UP1 - Université

     Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS)

 We consider a model of influence with a set of non-strategic agents and two  strategic agents. The non-strategic agents have initial opinions and are  linked through a simply connected network. They update their opinions as in  the DeGroot model. The two strategic agents have fixed opinions, 1 and 0  respectively, and are characterized by the magnitude of the impact they can  exert on non-strategic agents. Each strategic agent forms a link with one  non-strategic agent in order to alter the average opinion that eventually  emerges in the network. This procedure defines a zero-sum game whose players  are the two strategic agents and whose strategy set is the set of  non-strategic agents. We focus on the existence and the characterization of  equilibria in pure strategy in this setting. Simple examples show that the  existence of a pure strategy equilibrium does depend on the structure of the  network. The characterization of equilibrium we obtain emphasizes on the one  hand the influenceability of target agents and on the other hand their  centrality whose natural measure in our context defines a new concept,  related to betweenness centrality, that we call intermediacy. We also show  that in the case where the two strategic agents have the same impact,  symmetric equilibria emerge as natural solutions whereas in the case where  the impacts are uneven, the strategic players generally have differentiated  equilibrium targets, the high-impacts agent focusing on centrality and the  low-impact agent on influenceability.

 Nous considérons un modèle d'influence avec un ensemble d'agents  non-stratégiques et deux agents stratégiques. Les agents non-stratégiques  sont liés par un réseau simplement convexe et leurs opinions évoluent comme  dans le modèle de DeGroot. Les deux agents stratégiques ont des opinions  fixes, respectivement 1 et 0, et sont caractérisés par l'impact qu'ils  exercent sur les croyances des agents non-stratégiques. Chaque agent  stratégique forme exactement un lien avec un agent non-stratégique en vue  d'influencer l'opinion moyenne limite qui se forme dans le réseau. Cette  procédure définie un jeu à somme nulle où les ensembles de stratégie des deux  joueurs sont l'ensemble des agents non-stratégiques. Nous nous intéressons à  l'existence et à la caractérisation des équilibres de Nash en stratégie pure  dans ce cadre. Des exemples simples montrent que l'existence d'équilibres en  stratégie pure dépend de la structure du réseau. La caractérisation des  équilibres que nous obtenons met en avant d'une part l'influençabilité et  d'autre part l'influence des agents cibles que nous mesurons à travers un  nouveau concept mesurant l'intermédiation effectuée par un agent.

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:cesptp:hal-01158168&r=soc

 7. Teams, Organization and Education Outcomes: Evidence from a field experiment in Bangladesh

    Hahn, Youjin

    Islam, Asadul

    Patacchini, Eleonora

    Zenou, Yves

 We study the relationship between network centrality and educational outcomes  using a field experiment in primary schools in Bangladesh. After obtaining  information on friendship networks, we randomly allocate students into groups  and give them individual and group assignments. We find that the groups that  perform the best are those whose members have high Katz-Bonacich and  key-player centralities. Leaders are mostly responsible for this effect,  while bad apples have little influence. Group members' network centrality is  also important in shaping individual performance. We show that network  centrality captures non-cognitive skills, especially patience and  competitiveness.

    Keywords: leaders; Network centrality; soft skills; team work

    JEL: A14 C93 D01 I20

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:10631&r=soc

 8. Social Identity and Social Free-Riding

    Mark Bernard (Department of Management and Microeconomics, Goethe

     University Frankfurt)

    Florian Hett (Department of Management and Microeconomics, Goethe

     University Frankfurt)

    Mario Mechtel (Institute for Labour Law and Industrial Relations in the

     EU, University of Trier)

 We model individual identification choice as a strategic group formation  problem. When choosing a social group to identify with, individuals  appreciate high social status and a group stereotype to which they have a  small social distance. A group's social status and stereotype are shaped by  the (exogenous) individual attributes of its members and hence endogenous to  individuals' choices. Unless disutility from social distance is strong  enough, this creates a strategic tension as individuals with attributes that  contribute little to group status would like to join high-status groups,  thereby diluting the latters' status and changing stereotypes. Such social  free-riding motivates the use of soft exclusion technologies in high-status  groups, which provides a unifying rationale for phenomena such as hazing  rituals, charitable activities or status symbols that is not taste-based or  follows a standard signaling mechanism.

    Keywords: social identity, social status, social distance, categorization,

     group formation

    JEL: Z13 D01 D03

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iaa:dpaper:201505&r=soc

 9. Trust-building in international business ventures

    Alexandra Gerbasi (MTS - Management Technologique et Strategique -

     Grenoble École de Management (GEM))

    Dominika Latusek (Department of Management - Kozminski University)

 Purpose: This article investigates collaboration and coordination practices  in the organization whose members come from two countries that differ  dramatically in generalized trust: Poland and the United States.

 Design/methodology/approach: A qualitative field study conducted in Silicon  Valley-based American-Polish start-up joint venture. Findings: There are  three mechanisms can facilitate collaboration in organizations that differ in  generalized trust: frequent interaction that may form a basis for  knowledge-based trust, professional cultures that provide common platform for  communication, and the presence of intermediaries that possess understanding  and ability to communicate of both cultures. Practical implications: The  findings can be applied in the context of offshoring projects in knowledge  intensive industries. Originality/value: Research presented in this paper  investigates collaboration of parties from low-trust and high-trust cultures  within one business venture.

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:gemptp:hal-01137667&r=soc

10. The roles of human values and generalized trust on stated preferences when food is labeled with environmental footprints: insights from Germany

    Grebitus, Carola

    Steiner, Bodo

    Veeman, Michele

 This study explores influences of human values and trust on stated  preferences for food labeled with environmental footprints. We apply survey  data to assess influences of these individual-specific characteristics on  German consumers’ stated choices of potatoes, through an attribute-based  choice experiment in which product alternatives are described by footprint  labels and prices. We find that accounting for consumers’ value systems, but  not generalized trust beliefs, aids in understanding choices and identifying  possible markets for footprint-labeled food products.

    Keywords: carbon footprint, ecological, Rokeach Value Survey,

     environmental sustainability, mixed logit

    JEL: C25 C9 M31 Q5

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:64630&r=soc

This nep-soc issue comes without any express or implied warranty. You may contact the editor by reply to this mail.

General information on the NEP project can be found at http://nep.repec.org.

For comments please write to the director of NEP, Marco Novarese at < director @ nep point repec point org >.