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Political leanings and social capital

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  • Jha, Anand
  • Boudreaux, Christopher J.
  • Banerjee, Vasabjit

Abstract

The research shows that the political leanings and social capital of the region around firms’ headquarters affect corporate and individual decisions. What remains unexplored is whether social capital and political leanings are associated with each other. To fill this gap, we use the ratio of votes cast for Democratic candidates to those cast for Republican candidates in presidential elections to measure the Democratic political leanings in the United States. We find that counties with more social capital lean toward the Democratic Party. A one standard deviation increase in social capital is associated with a 0.30 standard deviation increase in the vote ratio. Additional tests show that this positive association is stronger in counties that have higher incomes and less religiosity.

Suggested Citation

  • Jha, Anand & Boudreaux, Christopher J. & Banerjee, Vasabjit, 2018. "Political leanings and social capital," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 95-105.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:soceco:v:72:y:2018:i:c:p:95-105
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socec.2017.11.008
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Stone, Daniel, 2018. ""Unmotivated Bias" and Partisan Hostility: Empirical Evidence," SocArXiv hr5ba, Center for Open Science.
    3. Stone, Daniel F., 2019. "“Unmotivated bias” and partisan hostility: Empirical evidence," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 12-26.
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