Adding Cultures
Zero-Sum Thinking, the Evolution of Effort-Suppressing Beliefs, and Economic Development
Jean-Paul Carvalho et al.
NBER Working Paper, September 2023
Abstract:
We study the evolution of belief systems that suppress productive effort. These include concerns about the envy of others, beliefs in the importance of luck for success, disdain for competitive effort, and traditional beliefs in witchcraft. We show that such demotivating beliefs can evolve when interactions are zero-sum in nature, i.e., gains for one individual tend to come at the expense of others. Within a population, our model predicts a divergence between material and subjective payoffs, with material welfare being hump-shaped and subjective well-being being decreasing in demotivating beliefs. Across societies, our model predicts a positive relationship between zero-sum thinking and demotivating beliefs and a negative relationship between zero-sum thinking (or demotivating beliefs) and both material welfare and subjective well-being. We test the model's predictions using data from two samples in the Democratic Republic of Congo and from the World Values Survey. In the DRC, we find a positive relationship between zero-sum thinking and the presence of demotivating beliefs, such as concerns about envy and beliefs in witchcraft. Globally, zero-sum thinking is associated with skepticism about the importance of hard work for success, lower income, less educational attainment, less financial security, and lower life satisfaction. Comparing individuals in the same zero-sum environment, we observe the divergence between material outcomes and subjective well-being predicted by our model.
Zero-Sum Thinking and the Roots of U.S. Political Divides
Sahil Chinoy et al.
NBER Working Paper, September 2023
Abstract:
We investigate the origins and implications of zero-sum thinking -- the belief that gains for one individual or group tend to come at the cost of others. Using a new survey of a representative sample of 20,400 US residents, we measure zero-sum thinking, political preferences, policy views, and a rich array of ancestral information spanning four generations. We find that a more zero-sum mindset is strongly associated with more support for government redistribution, race- and gender-based affirmative action, and more restrictive immigration policies. Furthermore, zero-sum thinking can be traced back to the experiences of both the individual and their ancestors, encompassing factors such as the degree of intergenerational upward mobility they experienced, whether they immigrated to the United States or lived in a location with more immigrants, and whether they were enslaved or lived in a location with more enslavement.
Can Patience Account for Subnational Differences in Student Achievement? Regional Analysis with Facebook Interests
Eric Hanushek et al.
NBER Working Paper, September 2023
Abstract:
Decisions to invest in human capital depend on people's time preferences. We show that differences in patience are closely related to substantial subnational differences in educational achievement, leading to new perspectives on longstanding within-country disparities. We use social-media data -- Facebook interests -- to construct novel regional measures of patience within Italy and the United States. Patience is strongly positively associated with student achievement in both countries, accounting for two-thirds of the achievement variation across Italian regions and one-third across U.S. states. Results also hold for six other countries with more limited regional achievement data.
Roots of Inequality
Oded Galor, Marc Klemp & Daniel Wainstock
NBER Working Paper, August 2023
Abstract:
Why does inequality vary across societies? We advance the hypothesis that in a market economy, where earning differentials reflect variations in productive traits, a significant component of the differences in income inequality across societies can be attributed to variation in societal interpersonal diversity, shaped during the prehistoric Out-of-Africa Migration. The roots of income inequality within the US population provide supporting evidence for the hypothesis. It suggests that variation in income inequality across groups of individuals originating from different ancestral backgrounds can be traced to the degree of diversity of their ancestral populations as was carved in the course of the dispersal of humanity from Africa.
Rule Breaking, Honesty, and Migration
Massimo Anelli, Tommaso Colussi & Andrea Ichino
Journal of Law and Economics, May 2023, Pages 409-432
Abstract:
Using census data, we study false birth-date registrations in Italy, a phenomenon well known to demographers, in a setting that allows us to separate honesty from the benefits of cheating and deterrence. By comparing migrants leaving a locality with those who remain in it, we illustrate the tendency of Italians to sort themselves across geographic areas according to their honesty levels. Over time, this tendency has modified the average honesty level in each locality, with relevant consequences for the distribution across geographic areas of outcomes like human capital, productivity, earnings growth, and the quality of local politicians and government.
The Societal Determinants of Happiness and Unhappiness: Evidence From 152 Countries Over 15 Years
Satoshi Araki
Social Psychological and Personality Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
What makes people (un)happy? From the macro viewpoint, this study investigates the societal determinants of average life satisfaction (LS), the percentage of thriving/suffering people, and positive/negative affect collectively experienced in a society. Using the aggregate-level panel data for 152 economies over 15 years, country-fixed effects regressions reveal (1) the marginal effect of economic growth is likely to be smaller in affluent countries; (2) generosity predicts higher LS and positive affect heterogeneously across macroeconomic standards; (3) social support is substantially linked to both happiness and unhappiness worldwide; (4) freedom of choice predicts the lower risk of suffering and the higher chances of thriving and positive affect, especially in advanced economies; (5) longer healthy life expectancy is associated with the higher frequency of encountering negative affect; and (6) corruption negatively predicts happiness, particularly in the richest country group. These findings advance the socioeconomics of (un)happiness and relevant policy toward human flourishing.
Changing local customs: The long run impacts of Christian missions on female genital cutting in Africa
Heather Congdon Fors, Ann-Sofie Isaksson & Annika Lindskog
Journal of Development Economics, January 2024
Abstract:
We investigate the long-run impacts of Christian missions on female genital cutting (FGC) in Africa. Our empirical analysis draws on historical data on the locations of early European missions geographically matched with Demographic and Health Survey data on FGC practices of around 410,000 respondents from 42 surveys performed over a 30-year period in 14 African countries. We use ethnographic data on pre-colonial FGC to show that the location of missions was not correlated with the practice of FGC in the local population. Our benchmark estimates imply that a person living 10 km from a historical mission is 4-6 percentage points less likely to have undergone FGC than someone living 100 km from a mission site. Similarly, an additional mission per 1000 km2 in one's ancestral ethnic homeland decreases the probability of having undergone FGC by around 8 percentage points. The effect is robust to numerous specifications and control variables.
The Shaping of a Gender Norm: Marriage, Labor, and Foot-binding in Historical China
Xinyu Fan & Lingwei Wu
International Economic Review, forthcoming
Abstract:
This paper presents a theory that explains the rise of foot-binding in historical China, in response to a gender-asymmetric social mobility shock that dispersed men's quality distribution in the marriage market. The theory characterizes the marriage market equilibrium and women's competition strategies before and after the shock. Empirical evidence using archival data corroborates the theoretical predictions, that greater men's social mobility opportunities encouraged foot-binding and that a greater cost of women's labor discouraged foot-binding. The paper thus highlights that costly gender norms can be traced back to gender asymmetry in social mobility opportunities.