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Social Capital and Contributions in a Public Goods Experiment

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Author Info
Lisa Anderson
Jennifer Mellor
Jeffrey Milyo

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Abstract

Recent empirical studies from across the social and behavioral sciences find that social capital is associated with various measures of well-being, including economic growth (Stephen Knack and Phillip Keefer 1997) and mortality (Ichiro Kawachi, Bruce P. Kennedy and Kimberly Lochner 1997). These findings have inspired subsequent studies by economists examining the determinants of individual level measures of social capital (e.g., Alberto Alesina and Elianna La Ferrara 2002). However, experimental evidence from trust games conducted by Edward L. Glaeser, David I. Laibson, Jose A. Scheinkman and Christine L. Soutter (2001) calls into question the efficacy of the most prevalent measures of social capital employed in the literature. In contrast, we show that these same measures are significantly associated with contributions in a public goods experiment and perform as well as the alternative measures of social trust suggested by Glaeser, et al. Because social capital is thought to influence wellbeing through its effect on public good provision, our results bolster previous empirical work on the causes and consequences of social capital.

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Paper provided by Harris School of Public Policy Studies, University of Chicago in its series Working Papers with number 0317.

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Date of creation: Dec 2004
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Handle: RePEc:har:wpaper:0317

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Related research
Keywords: social capital; public goods; wellbeing;

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Knack, Stephen & Keefer, Philip, 1997. "Does Social Capital Have an Economic Payoff? A Cross-Country Investigation," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 112(4), pages 1251-88, November.
  2. Alesina, Alberto & La Ferrara, Eliana, 2002. "Who trusts others?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(2), pages 207-234, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  3. Jeffrey Carpenter & Amrita Daniere & Lois Takahashi, 2003. "Cooperation, Trust, and Social Capital in Southeast Asian Urban Slums," Middlebury College Working Paper Series 0309, Middlebury College, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
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  4. Edward L. Glaeser & David I. Laibson & José A. Scheinkman & Christine L. Soutter, 2000. "Measuring Trust," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 115(3), pages 811-846, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Jeffrey Milyo & Jennifer M. Mellor & Lisa R. Anderson, 2005. "An Experimental Study of the Effects of Inequality and Relative Deprivation on Trusting Behavior," Working Papers 0502, Department of Economics, University of Missouri. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Jeffrey Milyo & Jennifer M. Mellor, 2004. "State Social Capital and Individual Health Status," Working Papers 0419, Department of Economics, University of Missouri. [Downloadable!]
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  3. Lisa Anderson & Jennifer Mellor & Jeffrey Milyo, 2004. "Do Liberals Play Nice? The Effects of Party and Political Ideology in Public Goods and Trust Games," Working Papers 0411, Harris School of Public Policy Studies, University of Chicago. [Downloadable!]
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  4. Cipriani, Marco & Giuliano, Paola & Jeanne, Olivier, 2007. "Like Mother Like Son? Experimental Evidence on the Transmission of Values from Parents to Children," CEPR Discussion Papers 6305, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  5. Gerald Pruckner & Rupert Sausgruber, 2006. "Trust on the Streets: A Natural Field Experiment on Newspaper Purchasing," Discussion Papers 06-01, University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  6. Lisa Anderson & Jennifer Mellor & Jeffrey Milyo, 2006. "Induced heterogeneity in trust experiments," Experimental Economics, Springer, vol. 9(3), pages 223-235, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Emanuele Ciriolo, 2005. "Inequity aversion and trustees’ reciprocity in the trust game," Working Papers DULBEA 05-20.RS, Université libre de Bruxelles, Department of Applied Economics (DULBEA). [Downloadable!]
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  8. Timothy T. Brown & Richard M. Scheffler & Sukyong Seo & Mary Reed, 2006. "The empirical relationship between community social capital and the demand for cigarettes," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 15(11), pages 1159-1172. [Downloadable!]
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