THE SOCIAL MULTIPLIER

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Glaeser, Edward L.; Sacerdote, Bruce I.; Scheinkman, Jose A.
• 署名单位: Harvard University; National Bureau of Economic Research; Dartmouth College; Princeton University
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC ASSOCIATION
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1542-4766
• DOI: 10.1162/154247603322390982
• 发表日期: 2003
• 页码: 345-353
• 关键词: crime

摘要

Aggregate data is often used to make inferences about individual level behavior. If there are social interactions in which one person's actions influence his neighbor's incentives or information, then these inferences are inappropriate. The presence of positive social interactions, or strategic complementarities, implies the existence of a social multiplier where aggregate relationships will overstate individual elasticities. We present a brief model and then estimate the size of the social multiplier in three areas: the impact of education on wages, the impact of demographics on crime and group membership among Dartmouth roommates. In these contexts, there is a significant social multiplier. (JEL: HO, JO, CO)