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Social Capital and the Family: Evidence that Strong Family Ties Cultivate Civic Virtues

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Abstract

I establish a positive relationship between family ties and civic virtues, as captured by disapproval of tax and benefit cheating, corruption, and a range of other dimensions of exploiting others for personal gain. I find that family ties are a complement to social capital, using within country evidence from 83 nations and data on second generation immigrants in 29 countries with ancestry in 85 nations. Strong families cultivate universalist values and produce more civic and altruistic individuals. The results provide a constructive role for families in promoting family values, which challenge an ‘amoral familism.’ Moreover, strong families are complementary with more developed and democratic institutions. The results provide a constructive role for families in promoting family values that support successful societies with a high state and fiscal capacity.

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  • Ljunge, Martin, 2013. "Social Capital and the Family: Evidence that Strong Family Ties Cultivate Civic Virtues," Working Paper Series 967, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:0967
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    1. Philippe Aghion & Yann Algan & Pierre Cahuc & Andrei Shleifer, 2010. "Regulation and Distrust," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 125(3), pages 1015-1049.
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    16. Martin Ljunge, 2012. "The Spirit of the Welfare State? Adaptation in the Demand for Social Insurance," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 6(3), pages 187-223.
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    25. Martin Ljunge, 2011. "Trust Issues: Evidence from Second Generation Immigrants," Discussion Papers 11-31, University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics.
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    Cited by:

    1. Anastasia Latina & Dimitrios Varvarigos, 2020. "Corruption and the Cultural Evolution of Family Ties," Discussion Papers in Economics 20/04, Division of Economics, School of Business, University of Leicester.
    2. Ang, James B. & Fredriksson, Per G., 2017. "Wheat agriculture and family ties," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 236-256.
    3. Boto-García, David & Bucciol, Alessandro & Manfrè, Martina, 2022. "The role of financial socialization and self-control on saving habits," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    4. Ljunge, Martin, 2014. "Trust issues: Evidence on the intergenerational trust transmission among children of immigrants," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 175-196.
    5. Mauro Marè & Antonello Motroni & Francesco Porcelli, 2015. "Family Ties and Underground Economy," Working papers 16, Società Italiana di Economia Pubblica.
    6. Litina Anastasia & Varvarigos Dimitrios, 2023. "Family Ties and Corruption," The B.E. Journal of Theoretical Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 23(1), pages 195-222, January.
    7. Mertzanis, Charilaos, 2019. "Family ties, institutions and financing constraints in developing countries," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    8. Eran Binenbaum, 2016. "Human Capitalism: How Economic Growth Has Made Us Smarter – and More Unequal , by Brink Lindsey ( Princeton University Press , Princeton, NJ , 2013 ), pp. 136 ," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 92(299), pages 666-667, December.
    9. Marè, Mauro & Motroni, Antonello & Porcelli, Francesco, 2020. "How family ties affect trust, tax morale and underground economy," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 174(C), pages 235-252.
    10. Elias Brumm & Johannes Brumm, 2017. "Reform Support In Times Of Crisis: The Role Of Family Ties," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 55(3), pages 1416-1429, July.
    11. Schilpzand, Annemiek & de Jong, Eelke, 2023. "Do market societies undermine civic morality? An empirical investigation into market societies and civic morality across the globe," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 208(C), pages 39-60.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Family ties; Civic; Family values; Cultural transmission; Altruism; Social capital;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • A13 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Relation of Economics to Social Values
    • H26 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Tax Evasion and Avoidance
    • P16 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Capitalist Economies - - - Capitalist Institutions; Welfare State
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification

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