What Do Cross-Country Surveys Tell Us about Social Capital?

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Tannenbaum, David; Cohn, Alain; Zund, Christian Lukas; Marechal, Michel Andre
• 署名单位: Utah System of Higher Education; University of Utah; University of Michigan System; University of Michigan; University of Zurich; University of California System; University of California San Diego
• 刊物名称: REVIEW OF ECONOMICS AND STATISTICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0034-6535
• DOI: 10.1162/rest_a_01245
• 发表日期: 2025-01
• 页码: 142-151
• 关键词: false discovery rate; dominance analysis; preferences; institutions; COOPERATION; predictors; culture; trust

摘要

We assess the predictive power of survey measures of social capital with a new behavioral data set that examines whether citizens report a lost wallet to its owner. Using data from more than 17,000 lost wallets across 40 countries, we find that survey measures of social capital-especially questions concerning generalized trust or generalized morality-are strongly and significantly correlated with country-level differences in wallet reporting rates. A second finding is that lost wallet reporting rates predict unique variation in the outputs of social capital, such as economic development and government effectiveness, not captured by existing measures.